Tips For Overcoming Authoring Burnout

If you read my first blog post for 2025, you’ll know it was all about moving on from writing goals that don’t serve you anymore.

Based on the comments after publishing, it would seem that the concept of a New Year Writing Reset struck a relatable nerve, and it made me want to explain how I’d slipped into such a mindset.

A Little Background Info

I actually wrote that post in 2024 to publish in December, but I was so out of spoons at that point that I couldn’t do it.

Instead, I turned what was supposed to be a two-week break into a month away, and I purposely kept that post unpublished so I’d have something to publish when I got back.

This was because I knew once I stepped away from my writing desk, I’d have a hard time coming back to it. Not at the pace I was or in the way I was working, and not because I didn’t want to write books anymore, but because I was too overwhelmed by authoring.

Everything related to writing that isn’t writing—which for me is blogging, social media planning, posting, and checking—had become too much.

The break helped—a little. I got back into my blogging schedule and published the reworked reset post and my January Roundup, but when it came to writing a new blog post, I got stuck again.

I tried completing a few half-written drafts, writing from old ideas, and even tried writing new ideas, but still ran into the same frustrations. I was, still am, burned out.

Based on the comments left on the reset blog, I believe authoring burnout happens for you guys too, which leads to the only post I could pull together this week, and one that I hope will be helpful for all of us.

Tips For Overcoming Authoring BurnoutTake A Break

That holiday break I took was very needed, and during that entire month, I stayed away from my writing desk and off all of my author accounts—and it was wonderful.

As much as I missed my writing routine, seeing what the writing community was up to on social media, and reading fellow blogger’s posts, the mental load of constantly feeling like you aren’t doing enough, or that everyone else is more successful than you was too much.

I don’t think anyone deserves to feel bad when opening up an app. And although some of those negative feelings came screaming back as soon as I returned to social media, having the break did wonders for my mental load. It also proved that social media keeps ticking away while you’re gone and really doesn’t notice if you’re not there for a bit.

If you can, I highly recommend taking a break from everything for a length of time that suits you, and really take the break.

Don’t write. Don’t blog. Don’t check your author accounts (or any social media if you can swing it).

It may feel like you’re forgetting to do something, and you may even be bored the first day or so, but trust me, taking a proper break is the first step to overcoming burnout.

Decide Your Priorities

When you get back from your break, hopefully, it makes you realize you can take time off, and that it is okay to step away from old habits and the way you were structuring the creative time that led to your burnout.

Thanks to your break, hopefully, you’ll have a refreshed mind, a fresh perspective, and a spark of desire to get back into things, even if it’s only a flicker.

As you sit at your writing desk again, ask yourself:

How do I want to spend the majority of my writing time?What projects do I want to work on?How can I maintain authoring tasks without burning out?

With those questions asked and answered, try to come up with your own plan for achieving your main writing goals and still author when needed—without the burnout.

If you’re like me, structure can also help, such as implementing writing routines like the following:

A Non-Overwhelming Writing Routine To Gain Control Of Your Endless To-Do ListTime Blocking Your Writing Routine

I used to use them all the time but fell out as my writing goals got busier. Now that I’ve had burnout derail me, I’m going to give them another try to see if they can help me get the balance right.

Work Your Way Back To What You Love

One reason I burned out on blogs last year was the different ways I was coming up with my content.

For 6 years, my posts were more or less based on the particular issues I was having when trying to write, edit, publish, or the tips I was learning while working on a WIP.

Because I wasn’t writing a fictional book last year, I didn’t have issues or tips I needed to explore through a blog post.

Instead, I wrote from years-old blog ideas or topics I always intended to cover but hadn’t yet, and it just wasn’t the same. It felt less personal; I guess? And it eventually made writing those blogs feel like a chore.

When I needed a new blog post for this week, I tried completing half-written posts and looked at old ideas again and it reminded me why I’d hit a wall with my blogging.

When I switched to writing about my struggles to pen a blog post, however, the words poured out. So much so, that I wrote over 3,000 and spent days editing it it down. But, I was back to writing blogs that were exciting for me.

If you’re feeling the same about your own blogging, go back to what you originally loved about it or discover a new way to get excited again and see if it combats your burnout too.

Scale Back Social Media

As a modern writer, not only do you have to write the books, but you have to market them too, and that marketing takes the form of social media—the biggest authoring task and time suck of them all!

Unfortunately, social media is important for writers and may be the only way anyone ever hears about your work.

Also unfortunate is the fact that you can post about your books every day of the week, multiple times a day, and on every platform available, and it still doesn’t mean anyone will see your posts or buy your books.

This is a hard truth to accept when you rely on social media for income, sales, or getting yourself out there. You may feel the need to up your social media game by spending hours of each day creating content, posting, liking, and commenting. That kind of commitment quickly leads to burnout, and if that type of social media activity is making you miserable, really define what works for you and what’s worth doing, and make changes.

When I returned from my break and my social media accounts were the same as when I left, I realized taking 100’s of photos, agonizing over captions, organizing multiple posts, interrupting tasks to post across multiple platforms, and the merry-go-round of checking notifications was something I didn’t miss. It also made me realize how much writing time those “must dos” were eating into.

I now concentrate on creating 4 different posts a week instead of 7, and I only regularly check the social media platforms I enjoy using. The others (Hello, Adbook, I mean Facebook) get a once-a-week check, if that, and I no longer dread opening the apps.

If you’re feeling the same way, delete the social media you don’t like, prioritize the apps and communities you do like, limit your time so you’re actually writing as well as authoring, and let go of the guilt.

No one is sitting there judging you for not liking 50 posts or commenting on 100. They probably haven’t even seen what you’re doing or your posts (Hello, who-knows-how-it-actually-works algorithm).

Social media is worth doing, but not at the expense of burnout or as a priority over your writing.

Cut Yourself Some Slack

And now, the final tip for overcoming authoring burnout is to cut yourself a little slack.

We’re all trying to do the best we can, and it’s too easy to get swept up in having to do these things, having to do them now, doing them perfectly, and doing them all the time.

That kind of pressure, self-imposed or from others, will only make you uncreative and disillusioned, and it does nothing but feed the burnout.

If that’s not what you want, cut yourself some slack, and combine it with the other tips here to balance your authoring and writing so you can overcome the burnout and get yourself back to your creative best.

— K.M. Allan

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