Getting the Dam Unstuck: Moving through Writing Burnout and Lack of Drive

Revision the Second Part 5

In the last 4 posts I have hemmed and hawed. I have spoken of writing burnout and stress. Just over extending myself.

Also, not forgiving myself for doing “more.”

Well, as March comes to an end I have failed on many fronts, but I have also found my footing again and continue to move forward.

Last Week

I have crested over the first half of my classes, and as this post goes live, only 4 weeks remain before the end.

I have doubled down on my efforts to get my writing burnout out of the way and devote time back to my various goals:

1. Revise more of the Novel.

2. Work on the new novel outline.

3. Finish the first of the new series of monthly posts.

4. Write the first five Query letters

I am happy to report that 3 of the 4 were accomplished.

Revision:

This week was tough. I was super stressed about whether or not I should cut an entire chapter out of my novel. In the end I reached back out to my professor and asked her thoughts.

Her answer was as perfect as her feedback always is.

What did my heart tell me?

And my heart told me that it was wasted space that didn’t accomplish anything, other than to give a character with the least number of chapters/pages, more screen time. Cut the chapter and then had to retitle all of my other chapter headings. I then managed to revise the next chapter.

So, while only changing three chapters is WAY too low for the week, I feel I still moved ahead. (While again working, side job working, and doing school work). And the book is almost 3000 words lighter.

Outlining:

I finally managed to get back to the novel/series outline. I figured out the pattern of the series, and the general flow for the first novel. I’m still debating the number of POVs but have it at about 6-8 this time

What really has me excited is I got back to figuring out Scrivener again. I mentioned in a lot of my earlier Thesis Diary posts that I used Scrivener for the first time. I dropped in by dumping the first 50k of the novel into the program. So, I never set the defaults or created my own template.

Finally, I have figured out how to create my own novel template. My defaults are all set and I even started to put in the first chapters and color code all of the possible POVs.

I am very excited to get started on the new novel at the end of this month.

New Monthly Series:

I dropped a new post, about Call of Cthulhu, I won’t go into too much here on that. Follow the link if you want to read it.

What I will tell you is that it should appeal to the Writers who like these Diary posts. And it should also appeal to those readers who miss my gaming posts from a year ago.

I’m going to talk a LOT of gaming, but I’m going to be using my writer’s tool box to showcase various writing elements and how to use them for problem solving, world building, characterization and all sorts of good things.

If that sounds interesting to you, then check out the link above and the next post will be in several weeks.

School Days

So, this is beginning of the end.

Four weeks left to go. One class has already been having an impact on this site. How and why, I write. Hopefully some of you have noticed a few things changing around here. I would love to hear from you. Whether it’s comments here, or comments on whatever link you followed to get here. (Facebook, Twitter, or Discord).

My other class is all about business and trying to make a living. Which normally would be my favorite subject, but it’s been tough. This week I need to go through Taxes and Tax law, so… not the fun stuff.

Either way, my finals are coming so the posts might get a little shorter as I lose valuable writing time.

Next Week and Beyond Writing Burnout.

In the last two posts I made huge lists of things I need to accomplish.

I won’t be repeating them all here. I have been pushing off the query letters for a while and I really need to get back on that. But I also need my revision done and my outline done so I can get into the new novel by the end of the month.

With school ending my posts are going to be all about the query process, how my rough draft is going, and the new monthly gaming posts: Call of Cthulhu and Curse of Strahd.

I’m sure other things will come up and I’ll move in and out of other topics.

The next few days are gearing up for my birthday next week, and trying to find a vaccine appointment. Both are stressing me out.

Rounding it all out…

I never really did the title to this one justice. I probably should have given you all a few pointers on how to try to move past your own burnout/ stress. But I find that everyone works differently.

Perhaps merely hearing that someone (ME) managed to get a bunch of work done and partially break out of their funk will be enough? I certainly hope that it is.

In fandom news, this week is the celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of Kamen Rider. One of my favorite shows, I’m fairly sure I mentioned it a few times already. The last few days have been filled with movie, series, and other news. I’m super excited to see so much happening with my favorite show.

Let’s leave it on that high note.