In an article for the Script Lab, Kathleen Laccinole offers advice on what to do when you feel burned out by your writing. “Writer’s burnout is when that thing you love, that thing that feeds your soul becomes a chore,” Laccinole explains. “You know you can write. You just don’t want to do it. You’re tired of that blank page. You’re tired of thinking. You’re just plain tired.”
When she faced burnout, Laccinole quit writing, and she means quit-quit. She threw out her writing books and her scripts. Got divorced, bought a dog, started a candle-making company. No half measures here.
But eventually, she missed writing, and restarting wasn’t easy. “One step forward, five steps back, trip and fall, roll backward down a hill, hit head, concussion, start all over again. And again, and again, and again. But, it’s worth it. And you know it,” she says.
Instead of following her path, Laccinole urges you to take a break – from the computer, social media, anything related to work, especially online. “Set boundaries for yourself and others. Take a break and use your writing time to do something productive,” she recommends, such as reading, exercising, or other creative tasks.
