I have gotten to the point where I have about 6-8 hours daily scheduled for writing articles. This is a lot of research being done and typing. My question is what do you do when you reach the point where if you sit down and just can not write. How do you keep writing and get rid of writers block or burnout?
Burnout and lack of motivation is a common problem that affects writers writing monotonously day after day.. I would suggest you to complete your assignments till now. Dont take any more assignments for the time being. Go out on a break, preferably with your family and loved ones. Relax yourself, dont over strain either sitting in front of your computers for hours. Remember, if you get into a job you love, you are actually on a vacation the whole week. Love your job, and give your mind and those flickering fingers some rest... They deserve it don't they ??
Burn out is a genuine possibility. I started off as a fashion blogger with a UK blog network, and I hated it. Within a few months, writing endless crap about subjects I didn't care took its toll - it wasn't long before I felt I'd beat the next PR person to death with the shoes they were showing me. I took a break and switched my speciality. I now work even harder on my 'proper' job as a space exploration writer and even pick up bits and bobs as extra bits. I am therefore forced to conclude that it absolutely depends on what you write about. If you really feel like you can't write another word, you have to stop - forcing it will never work. Just go have a cup of coffee, a shower, a walk... all may give you a boost, enough to finish. When it's over, try and look at what made you reach that level of frustration in the first instance.
I agree that specialization can help quite a bit and so can limiting the number of hours you're writing each day. If you're desperate to make ends meet, you need to find ways to make your work more profitable or pick up a side gig - taking on projects that interest you and balancing your workload within your day will keep things a bit smoother in the long-term. I find the occasional night off (or partial night off after I take care of a small project) helps a lot. Nothing better than just turning off the computer, crawling into bed and reading or watching mindless television. Writing is my fourth career and next to teaching, it's the most taxing mentally - consulting and accounting didn't even come close. You have to give your brain a break during the day.
Norman, close the editor, go out and take a ride or walk to build energy. Other than that I smoke or else take a beer, but this does not happen daily Burning out is lot common when you are creating articles in a niche over which you do not have interest and as well as knowledge.
Hey dear thanx a lot for such wonderful tips as i was also going through a burnmout and didnt knew what to do,now i will take a break and follow your tips.
I take a nap. Simple. Problem solved. It's only when you convince yourself that you can't rest when you need to that you'll push into the burnout phase. You can. You'll probably get the work done sooner that way anyway, because feeling burned out just leads to procrastination.
I also believe that if you start forcing yourself to write your quality is going to suffer. This is why I started the practice of requesting a deadline from my customers prior to taking on the project. If I feel that I can not do the job in their time frame then I just decline. Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions and tips on writer burnout.
What I do to avoid burnout: - naps - walking - exercise - talk on the phone - get away from the computer - read a book - do chores - listen to music Sometimes it might take time knowing what you can and can not do. If you feel that you being underpaid then tell them that you can not work with them anymore unless if they provide a raise of some sorts. Another thing that you can do is hire help but be careful and make sure that the hired help is of good quality. I went through this recently but it was mainly from having to work and holiday shop. It was draining for me and another reason why I am glad the holidays are over! lol.
My problem as of late has been health issues. First I had the swine Flu and now I have a fractured arm with a cast. It does slow me down a bit with typing but I believe I can still work. Just cant take on the work load that I did before. Not only that I ran into some issues of not meeting deadlines because I was taking on too much. Now life is a bit easier.
This is going to sound really stupid but I play a game with myself. I make myself write no matter what! I realize that it is going to be crap and I am okay with it. Then I reward myself with a snack, nap, game, drive anything for 1/2 hour to an hour. Then I go back, the crap is still crap so I usually completely rewrite it, but occasionally I can keep a sentence or two. I do this because when I excuse myself once, I tend to do it a few more times. This way, I feel great because I made it through but I also get back on focus because I gave myself a break. I also found, that I have had less burnouts since I started doing this.
It's the same with blogger burnout. You would be better off working 6-8 hours a day for 7 days a week than pushing yourself with the all nighters. The long hours do payoff for awhile but you end up robbing peter to pay paul. It's just that you only have so much concentration and energy in a 24 hour period. Working out is a great way to beat the burnout and give you some more energy. Even some sort of light physical activity like walking can help.
For me, I always keep low-key work available. For instance, I have a client that requires major research + resources for every sentence. That is the client that I get burned out on. So what I do is keep a client around that provides a great deal of just basic SEO posts. It gives me a break from the in-depth work but still allows me to make money.
Be more selective with your jobs and write about topics you are passionate about. There are also some really good suggestions in this thread to prevent writer's block. Get away from the computer and when you come back refreshed you will be able to churn out articles in no time.
I second with dcristo's post. When you take a subject that you love and are passionate about, the burnout thing doesn't arise. That being said, I also feel changing the niche or say subniche will help recharge your inkwell of creativity. Still, should you experience a burnout, just while away time by not attempting to write anything. I would read a lot of offline stuff (I just love the smell of fresh paper) and play some badminton; and it helps me =).
Same said for programing web apps though it can be fun at times but incredibly boring over many extended hours, currently I'm coding a script to grab embedded code from any of the thousands of video sharing sites out there, and needs to work with all these sites unique formats. for everything else there's Dragon naturally speaking great way to pimp pump them articles..lol ROOFIS
You can still get burned out if you're passionate about your work. Burnout isn't about the topic so much as the writer overextending themselves. The only real way to avoid it is to set strict rules that allow you to maintain a decent work-life balance. For example, set your hours and stick to them. Don't work late. Pretend you're in a 9-5 office job and "go home" for the day, ignoring email and such until the morning. Things like that make a huge difference. No one expects you to be on call 24/7, and if they do, they're probably not the kind of client you want to work with in the long-term anyway because it's flat-out unprofessional.
One method I use is to vary my activities each day. That way no two days would pass in the same manner. Besides that, if you're pretty busy, vary the genre or assignment. Another method is - being a writer as our advantage - by varying the location of where we're working. Instead of just working from home, perhaps doing it at the park or the library? I usually go to cafes. An age old NLP advice would be: break down the tasks to small ones! One can take that blocks are there because your subconscious is resistant to what may happen. Perhaps an underlying fear of uncertainty? Breaking the task into smaller ones within the due date at large would ease the task. More often than not, blocks occur when you're really exhausted or too tired mentally. So, take a break. Pamper yourself with a shower or a bath! Do anything to relax and let go. Nothing is more unproductive than you being hampered by blocks and have no way of going around it. So, I hope you find this helpful.
i get a lot of PM's now from people who are asking for rewrites with the original work, say they won't be online for the next few months, and can't spell in english. Why bother?