Reaching the middle of the quarter, many people are facing burnout of some kind. Me as well! When you’re a writer in college, no matter if you write for work or for pleasure, sometimes putting words to a page when you’re stressed can feel incredibly hard. As someone who writes a lot myself, both for my job and for fun, I understand the feeling.
Writing burnout often manifests as writer’s block, whether that be frustration with a project, being unable to come up with ideas or being dissatisfied with what you’re writing. It can seem like nothing you write is any good.
No matter what project you’re working on when you’re facing writer’s block, my advice with it is always to take a break. Think of writing like pouring creative energy out of a cup. You need time to refill the cup as well as pour from it. Lengths of time where you’re refilling that cup are just as much part of your creative process as writing and brainstorming.
Refilling your cup looks different for everyone. For me, refilling my creative energy looks like watching a good TV show or reading some poetry. For you, it might look like cooking or talking to friends or any number of things.
Take your time and let your brain remember why you started the project originally. What was that original spark, and how can you fuel your curiosity and excitement for the project?
Ok, you might be saying, that’s all well and good, but what if you’re stuck and burned out and you don’t have the luxury of taking a break?
That’s more difficult!
If you can’t take a break from what you’re working on, and you’re stuck on one section of it, I’d take a second and try to approach it from another angle.
This could mean writing the ending first or reverse outlining your work. It could also mean grabbing a friend to talk through the work, or cutting your work into pieces and rearranging it on the floor (trust me, it works!).
Read other writers who have worked on pieces similar to what you’re doing to see how they tackled issues similar to what you’re facing or read writers in completely different genres for inspiration.
Ask yourself questions to determine where you’re getting stuck. Is it just that you can’t figure out how to word something, or is there something deeper at play? Often when I’m stuck working on a piece, it’s an indication of a deeper issue within it that I haven’t worked out yet before trying to write the draft. Whether that be characterization, plot logic, or something completely different, asking myself questions can often get me to understand what I still need to figure out about the piece before I write it.
Above all, be kind to yourself.
Writing is an incredibly personal and vulnerable practice, and starting anything at all is an accomplishment! Remember that any work you put into a piece is new words that you didn’t have yesterday, and take it one step at a time. Patience in the writing process, and with yourself, will be rewarded.
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