Introduction

Welcome to another week! Before we jump into our writing topic, I wanted to share some news: I’m going to have a story published in The Deadlands magazine! Look for it next spring/summer. I’ll update you when I have more info.

I also sold another story that’s coming out sooner but I can’t tell you where yet. Read next week to find out, or check my Bluesky on the 27th (Wednesday).

Also also, I’m part of a group called Starting Off Write. We’re doing a NaNoWriMo-style novel writing collective in January, but we’ve opened our discord early so people can prepare and meet each other. Go to the website to sign up and it’ll take you to the discord. If you don’t want to join that’s okay; we’re also doing a Bluesky chat on December 15 at 5pm CST!

What’s the problem

You’re not writing. It’s been days. It’s been weeks. It’s been long enough that you’re starting to ask yourself, what’s going on? You put your pen to paper and your hand freezes. You open the blank computer page and your chest twists. You just…can’t…write. So you close the laptop (or head to Bluesky), you close the notebook, and you ignore the project. The cycle continues. We call this writer’s block.

But writer’s block has many possible causes. When I’m in that mental space, I’m on the lookout for two main culprits: burnout and avoidance.

Burnout

Psychology Today gives us a great definition of burnout as “a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress.”1 Writing a novel or a bunch of short stories is stressful. Querying and getting rejections is stressful. Being on sub and hearing nothing but silence is stressful. The stress is clear!

So what does burnout look like? The same article states that burnout involves “[p]hysical and mental exhaustion, a sense of dread about work, and frequent feelings of cynicism, anger, or irritability.” This can even manifest in symptoms such as stomachaches or illnesses due to suppressed immune system.

Psychologically speaking, you can see why burnout would make it difficult to write. The problem is, a lot of people try to push through and just make the burnout worse by increasing their stress.

Treating burnout

So what do we do about it?

Take it from a psychologist and take a break. It could be a day or a month. It could be a year. Whatever suits your severity of burnout and your schedule and needs. I’ve taken months off from writing before and as hard as it is at the time, it’s allowed me to come back refreshed and ready to work.

Talk to someone. A professional. A mentor. Your agent. Your friends. Don’t keep your emotions in where they’re going to fester and cause additional stress.

Self-care is key! Taking care of your mind and body will alleviate stress. Go to sleep on time. Get up on time. Get a massage. Take a bath. Play video games. Read a book. Take a walk. Do the things that you know refill your well.

Avoidance

But what if it isn’t burnout? People assume burnout first because it’s what they’re more familiar with, but there’s at least one other possible culprit for why you’re dreading the blank page, and that’s anxiety and avoidance. You’re not actually burnt out, you’ve just become so anxious about your project that you’re dreading it and so you avoid doing it.

The problem is the anxiety-avoidance cycle.2 

With any kind of anxiety, it’s going to create unpleasant physical sensations and mental images. What happens is, the person escapes by avoiding the thing that makes them anxious. You X out of Word. You close your notebook. Now you feel relief! In the short-term. In the long-term, you have a build-up of anxious thoughts about feelings about the project because it hasn’t gone away, so you continue to avoid, and the cycle goes on and on.

Treating avoidance

It’s important to know if you’re facing burnout or avoidance because they’re treated differently. Burnout needs breaks. If you’re avoiding because of anxiety, those breaks are actually increasing your anxiety.

The best way to treat anxiety head-on is to face your fear and write. We call this an “exposure.” You can do this in stages. Today, I’ll open Word/my notebook and write a sentence. Tomorrow, I’ll write a paragraph. Keep pumping it up until the anxiety goes away naturally. Because it will go away as long as you stick with it!

Self-care is also important for anxiety. When you’re not doing your mini-exposures, focus on doing things that refill the well and lower your stress. Breathing exercises are great here—but don’t use them during your exposures! The point of the writing exposures is to feel your anxiety and realize that it’s not dangerous.

In conclusion

I hope this mini seminar has helped you think about how you approach your own writer’s block. Obviously there are other reasons for writer’s block. Sometimes you’re stuck in a plot hole. Sometimes you just don’t feel motivated.

Thanks for reading C.J. Subko Books! This post is public so feel free to share it.

But I wanted to focus on burnout and avoidance because I think they’re two of the most problematic kinds that we face as writers.

Hopefully now, you feel armed against them.