Avoiding Burnout as an Ambitious Writer

Avoiding burnout while staying ambitious as a writer is something that I talked about in my writing community recently. It’s super important to push yourself, set high goals, and do hard things. But it’s also important to know when you’re on the verge of completely overworking yourself.

I know what it’s like to get so excited about a writing project that you dive into it head over heels without thinking everything through. I know what it’s like to talk so much about what you’re doing that even when you’re overwhelmed, it’d be too embarrassing or disappointing to admit that you need to tone things down a little—so you don’t. I know what it’s like to write 50,000 words in 28 days with half an outline and two months of writing experience, then see your whole novel fall apart.

I know what it’s like to hit burnout, and it’s neither fun nor healthy.

I don’t want that for you aspiring authors like me. I don’t want these major frustrations and difficulties to come against you and your writing and cause you months or even years worth of setbacks. So I have a theory.

I believe we can still aim for excellence and work our hardest while simultaneously avoiding burnout, if we follow these two simple strategies, the first one being this:

Pace yourself. Don’t go for the biggest, most intensive goals. Find one or more that are attainable and realistic, but that will also push you to keep working even when you don’t feel like it. Working yourself down to the ground right off the bat will not help you get any closer to writing goals— it will set you back even further!

The second strategy is this: Know when to rest. If you’re continually feeling overwhelmed at the thought of your writing project… If you feel drained every time you sit down to work on that project… If, for extended periods of time, you have no desire or energy to work on a specific piece of writing you were once so determined to finish… You’ve probably hit burnout.

As important as perseverance + dedication are for writers, rest is just as important. It’s often overlooked since we, as writers, tend to tell ourselves we need to work harder, longer, faster, and get more done. But writing requires so much mental energy that only true rest can replenish. Never forget that rest is productive too.

Would you like to read more posts like this? Are you an aspiring writer? As you know, I love chatting with you all in the comments!

Lastly, if you enjoyed reading this post, you might also like…

• 4 Tips for Creating Consisten Writing Habits
• What Does True Rest Look Like in Your Life?
• The Productivity Myth (a Guest Post by Laura Boone)
• 10 Things Every Writer Should Have on Hand (Guest Post)
• lessons I learned while writing (and fnishing) my first novella