One of the biggest revelations that I had, in the phase of my career that I would call “in burnout, but also in denial” came from a conversation with a dear friend of mine, Thea Harrison. We are both dog lovers, and involved dog owners, and we talked about our working habits and dog training… And I started seriously thinking about what I was training my animal to do.
This resonates with me SO MUCH. I was always judging my productivity by NaNoWriMo (and from the ones I did before I started publishing when I ONLY had to write) and being frustrated when I couldn't churn out 2000 words a day every day including weekends all year long. I completely had to rethink this because pandemic meant I was literally having panic/anxiety attacks. So now I mostly ignore my actual word count, give days off if I need them, and try not to feel bad about it. And lo and behold, I wrote 4 books during 2020, which was exactly my pace beforehand.
You literally just blew my mind. I've always been a quick writer -- particularly when I get to a certain point in a story and I just write every day -- I know I'm capable of 5k a day, even more sometimes, so I always feel like there's something wrong with me when I don't write that much. I've wrote three first drafts last year, but now I'm feeling so burnt out that I don't even want to finish editing the third of them.
I so get this. My problem, though (not writing words but writing code) I get in a zone. Just deeply involved in what I'm doing and everything is flowing and my brain is at high output and things are getting done. 8, 10, 12, 20 hours later I come out of the zone...I'm frozen in position, can't move at all, I have to pee, I'm starving, and so dehydrated I can't spit.
As I've gotten older I've tried to NOT do this. It actually takes me days to recover. The work at the beginning is great but the last hour it's pretty sucky. So I have a program that, every 2 hours pops up in front of everything on the screen and says "stand up. Go to the bathroom. Drink something that is not coffee. Take a walk. Eat something.". In bright flashing colors.
While I get a lot done in the zone, it's exhausting and bad for me.. and I get more done doing little bits every day. And it's better for my body overall... But boy, I miss those days when I could do "the zone" on a regular basis... it felt like meditation. No outside thoughts, no distraction, no other people in the world.... I like exercising my brain like that...even if it's really bad for my body.
Oh! This is wonderful. I was beating myself for taking the weekend off of school, when I have THINGS I am dealing with. I love school, but have been worrying about not writing my paper. But I work full time, our kids are returning to the school I work in, we had a friend with a personal loss that has left me bereft, I just became my mom's caregiver over the holidays, etc. etc. etc. I know (in theory) I need down time, but I don't trust it. And, I know, consequently, I've lost a sense of balance. Not sustainable, and not what I want for my kids.
Thank you. I feel more centered. The post and puppy have helped. :)
This resonates with me SO MUCH. I was always judging my productivity by NaNoWriMo (and from the ones I did before I started publishing when I ONLY had to write) and being frustrated when I couldn't churn out 2000 words a day every day including weekends all year long. I completely had to rethink this because pandemic meant I was literally having panic/anxiety attacks. So now I mostly ignore my actual word count, give days off if I need them, and try not to feel bad about it. And lo and behold, I wrote 4 books during 2020, which was exactly my pace beforehand.
You literally just blew my mind. I've always been a quick writer -- particularly when I get to a certain point in a story and I just write every day -- I know I'm capable of 5k a day, even more sometimes, so I always feel like there's something wrong with me when I don't write that much. I've wrote three first drafts last year, but now I'm feeling so burnt out that I don't even want to finish editing the third of them.
I so get this. My problem, though (not writing words but writing code) I get in a zone. Just deeply involved in what I'm doing and everything is flowing and my brain is at high output and things are getting done. 8, 10, 12, 20 hours later I come out of the zone...I'm frozen in position, can't move at all, I have to pee, I'm starving, and so dehydrated I can't spit.
As I've gotten older I've tried to NOT do this. It actually takes me days to recover. The work at the beginning is great but the last hour it's pretty sucky. So I have a program that, every 2 hours pops up in front of everything on the screen and says "stand up. Go to the bathroom. Drink something that is not coffee. Take a walk. Eat something.". In bright flashing colors.
While I get a lot done in the zone, it's exhausting and bad for me.. and I get more done doing little bits every day. And it's better for my body overall... But boy, I miss those days when I could do "the zone" on a regular basis... it felt like meditation. No outside thoughts, no distraction, no other people in the world.... I like exercising my brain like that...even if it's really bad for my body.
*boops the nose gently*
I think I need to hang up a sign over my computer that says "quit while it's still fun" because this is excellent advice.
Oh! This is wonderful. I was beating myself for taking the weekend off of school, when I have THINGS I am dealing with. I love school, but have been worrying about not writing my paper. But I work full time, our kids are returning to the school I work in, we had a friend with a personal loss that has left me bereft, I just became my mom's caregiver over the holidays, etc. etc. etc. I know (in theory) I need down time, but I don't trust it. And, I know, consequently, I've lost a sense of balance. Not sustainable, and not what I want for my kids.
Thank you. I feel more centered. The post and puppy have helped. :)