work – Selina J. Eckert

Writing When You Feel Drained

Writing is an intense creative process that can take an immense amount of mental energy. It is impossible to be passive when your mind is actively creating worlds and people and situations. And that can be incredibly tiring. As we write more and more often, it becomes easier for us to sit and extend our writing time, but we all eventually reach that limit where our brains are just too tired to write another word. And normally, that doesn’t present an issue.

But what about when other things in your life are draining your mental energy? When you can barely stand the thought of adding even one word to your manuscript?

Previously, I’ve discussed the difficulties of writing when life is crazy or when you are experiencing some sort of health problems, and today I want to revisit that just a bit with a related topic: writing when you feel drained.

You see, the last few weeks have been kind of hectic at work; we have had a huge project generating mountains of data every day, and I had the herculean task of compiling, organizing, and arranging all of that data. And it’s been constantly changing, requiring me to go back and change all the previously generated analyses. This has led to three weeks of constant data processing for the entire workday, and it has left my brain feeling fried.

And I’m sure I’m not alone. How many other writers are out there with their day jobs sucking away their creative minds? How many other writers toil the day away at work or even at home and feel too tired to work on writing by the end of it? The truth is simple: nearly everyone will experience this at one time or another.

So what can we do when we feel drained? How do we keep ourselves motivated without burning out? I have a few tips (and these might sound familiar).

Give yourself a break. I know, counterintuitive, right? But when we are tired and our creative well is low, we don’t need to be beating ourselves up for not being productive. We need to cut ourselves some slack, understand that it’s okay to take a break, and be kind to ourselves. And if that means not writing for a few days or even weeks, then so be it. You cannot fill from an empty cup.
Take time to recharge. When things are busy and difficult during the day, it can be hard to sit down and write when we actually have the time. So when you can’t write, make sure you are doing things that will refill that creative well, things that will ease your burdened brain. Spend time with your family, go for walks, relax in front of the TV… do what you need to do in order to feel better. Your health and well-being always comes first!
Set reasonable goals. Don’t forget about your writing schedule, even when you’re not writing. Make yourself a goal or two during the downtime. Maybe your goal is simply to scribble one sentence per day. Maybe it’s to brainstorm new ideas. Maybe it’s even to take a week off. Decide what will help you and your writing best, make it achievable, and follow through. Do what you can… but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t. Make your writing habits work for you during this time, and don’t worry about making adjustments. Personally, my habits are always shifting, anyway.
And finally, use your time to your advantage. You can recharge while still making your time productive and contributing to your writing. You can listen to podcasts or read or draw your characters. You can talk about the story to a friend. You can simply binge Netflix for “research.” One thing I find helps me when I’m tired is reading books, and this is a great way to keep up on things we should be doing as writers. Whatever you do, try to find at least one thing that will make you a better writer and add it into your recharge time. But make sure it fills that recharge requirement, too!

These are some tips I find helpful when I’m feeling creatively drained due to mentally taxing things going on in my life. One important thing to remember, though, is that you can’t take a break forever. Don’t wait around for things to slow down or life to improve… it may never happen. Make your writing happen instead in the midst of a hectic life. If the draining time is dragging on, it may be time to re-evaluate your daily and weekly writing goals. But when these bouts of feeling drained crop up in our normal lives, utilizing the tips above will help you to recharge, feel better about yourself and your writing, feel better in general, and get back to the things you love.

Take breaks when you need to. Take care of yourself. Cut yourself some slack. And remember this one final thought: you are still a writer, even when you aren’t writing. Taking a break doesn’t make you any less.

And when you’re feeling better, dive right back in.

~~~

Your turn: what tips do you have for when you’re feeling mentally drained? How do you approach your own writing at these times? Tell me in the comments!

How to Power Through a Book You Must Read

There are many of us, especially those in school, for whom reading is an essential part of our job. It may be a textbook. It may be a novel. It may simply be a report or research article. Sometimes they’re enjoyable reads, but oftentimes, the opposite is true. Sometimes we hate the reading or it bores us until we fall asleep. But no matter how we feel about it, we have to read it or suffer consequences in our grade or job performance.

So how do we get through the difficult books? I have a few helpful tips that have gotten me through many a difficult read.

Make a plan. There was a study a while back that said goal-setting was an important step in meeting your goals. This is an excellent time to apply that idea. So take a step back and look at your required reading. Start with the due date. If there isn’t one, give it a reasonable due date based on either when you would like to have it finished or when it would be appropriate to have completed it. Next, evaluate how long the work is. Only a few pages or an entire novel? Then, break it up into manageable chunks. Figure out how much you need to read within a certain period to meet the goal.
That was kind of abstract, so let’s look at an example. Let’s say you’re taking a literature class and you have to read a 200 page novel in a week. But you really really hate this book and would rather do anything else, like watch paint dry or stick your fingernails in your eyes.

Due date: 7 days from today
Number of pages: 200
Pages per day to finish on time: 28.5

So we calculated that to finish this book by the due date, you need to read 28 and a half pages per day. That sounds a lot more manageable, right? There’s your plan.

Note: you can also base your calculation on number of chapters or number of sections rather than pages. Find what works for you.
Schedule your time. Figure out when you are going to read those pages. Morning? Evening? Between classes? Before you go home? Just find a chunk of time that works based on what you have available and how long it will take you to read it.
Do the reading. That’s it. Follow your plan and read those pages or chapters or sections each day or hour or whatever schedule you worked out. Pro Tip: you’ll be done faster if you can make yourself read past your goal. Once you hit your daily or hourly (or whatever) goal, see if you can do just a little bit more. It really adds up by the end of your deadline.
Reward yourself every session. When you reach your session goal, make sure to give yourself something to celebrate. Eat a piece of candy. Go hang out with a friend. Or, my favorite (which also doesn’t use food as a reward, which is dangerous), now you get to read a fun book. Yes, once you finish the pages for whatever reading you are required to do, you can relax with reading you actually want to do!

A special note for the writers out there: these methods also work for getting yourself to write on a schedule! Woot! NaNoWriMo taught me that one. However, one different note for writing is that you could also base your goal off of daily writing time rather than word count, pages, chapters, etc.

Now, I know this isn’t the most timely post, since schools are finishing up (congrats, grads!), but these tips can be so handy at any time. Use them for school readings, for reading books for reviews or critiques (hey, looking at you, writing critique partners out there! and beta readers and anyone else this applies to), and for completing reading in your job. Personally, I used to have a lot of school reading and I currently do review reading, critiquing, beta reading, reading to build my internal library, and reading articles and protocols for work. Sometimes these readings can be rough, and these tips have seen me through them!

Your turn: tell me what tips and tricks you use to get through difficult reading. Share below! I can’t wait to see how everyone else deals with these things. 🙂 Happy reading!

Writing When Life Gets Crazy

As writers, we often find joy, peace, and stress relief in our writing (ignore those infuriating, anxiety-inducing things like “sharing” and “querying” for a moment). Once we dedicate ourselves to our writing, we even find that we want to make time for it on a regular basis, that it gives us excitement, energy, and purpose.

But when we are just starting out or when our lives start changing, that can be more difficult. Maybe we have full-time jobs or responsibilities that cut into our writing time. Maybe we have a lot of hobbies that eat up our free time. Or maybe events happen in your life that change your ability to write for a time, such as planning parties or weddings or starting a new relationship.

Personally, I encountered this between the end of March and beginning of May. I got married on April 21 (yay!), which meant that for the weeks leading up to the wedding I was insanely busy and stressed (boo!). It also meant that the weeks following the wedding I was traveling and recovering from being insanely busy and stressed.

And you know what? Not having the time, creative energy, or motivation to sit down at the keyboard took its toll on me. I became irritable and anxious about everything, even toward the man I love more than anyone. I started having stress-related health issues (which I’m still trying to fix). I battled my anxiety and my depression to keep from losing it completely (when they say weddings are stressful, it’s an understatement).

All because I had no outlet and I let myself get caught up in not doing the things that restore me. I wasn’t creating and my dreams felt stagnant. I wasn’t working toward them. My job felt pointless and unfulfilling. And yeah, there was good reason I wasn’t working toward my dreams, but still, being able to do something to move you toward your goals is SO IMPORTANT. I knew it was a temporary situation, but I really did suffer for it.

So, in hindsight, let’s discuss how to deal with your writing (or any other dreams) when life gets a little out of control. And maybe next time, I won’t lose it so much either!

Use the time you can find. It can be hard to find time to do things that restore you when you’re busy and stressed and ready to explode. But you know what? You can. It won’t necessarily be your first choice, but if it’s something important to you or something you need for your own self care (like writing for me), then you need to just do it.
So what do I mean? Can you set your alarm five minutes earlier in the morning and just write for five minutes? What about staying up five minutes later? Brainstorm while you’re on your commute? Take a couple minutes out of your lunch break? As soon as you get home, scrawl a sentence into your work in progress? These are all tiny, but if you can do even one of them, it can make a huge difference in how you feel. It’s small, but it’s not stagnant. You’re keeping your creative brain active and awake. I wish I had done that this past month instead of letting everything sit and fester.
Cut yourself some slack. Listen. Life gets rough sometimes. You run into issues or things get away from you. It happens to everyone. Don’t beat yourself up. We’re all doing the best we can. Your dreams will still be there no matter what you do. Try to take little steps, but if you can’t even do that? Give yourself a break. As writers, we have enough forces coming at us in the form of rejections and critiques and reviews that we really don’t need to add to the negativity just by opening our own mouths.
Take care of yourself. Make sure you put yourself and your health above trying to crank out work. Yes, do those things that you have to, like wedding planning or building a relationship or whatever it is that is interfering with your writing schedule… but don’t forget that your health is the first priority. That includes mental health. So take that bubble bath. Read that book before bed. Take a walk. Just take care of yourself in whatever way you need to in order to get through the tough time.
Refuel yourself. Listen, tough times drain us. They drain us emotionally, physically, mentally, and creatively. Don’t expect yourself to jump right back in as soon as things get better. You need to recover. Make sure you’re putting coins in the bank of creativity: keep notes while you’re busy of things you can come back to later, make every experience count toward writing fodder (as I call it… this is anything I consider usable writing material). But while you do that, give yourself time to relax and refill creative tanks without pressuring yourself to get back to your former writing performance. It takes time. For me, it was my honeymoon. I spent a week with no responsibility, seeing things I’d never seen. And by the third day, I was already inventing story ideas in my head. Refueling is vital!
Keep dreaming. Don’t give up, even if you can’t be as involved and active as you want to be. Life can be hard. But don’t let it steal your joy.

Writers are such a unique breed. We need to write to take care of ourselves, yet our writing is also one of our greatest sources of stress and anxiety, especially when we can’t work on it. So, knowing this, we need to work extra hard during the tough times to take care of ourselves and do what we can to keep the creativity flowing. Or to at least make deposits in the creativity bank. If we can’t take care of ourselves, our writing is going to suffer, and so are we. Take care of yourself.

For now, that’s all. I’m ready to dive back into more creation! Good luck, and please share your tips and comments below. I’d love to know how you deal with your writing when life is busy!