Getting Real About Writer’s Burn Out and Social Media Demands

The Scream by Munch

I was going through my Triberr stream today and someone had blogged on people who are too “big for their britches” to say thank you for retweets, comments etc. I shared the post as they do have a point. However, there can more behind this issue than mere rude behaviour: it may be overwhelm and silently suffering burn out.

Lack of response can come down to time availability, overload, required response numbers… and the need for a balanced life which includes family, recreation and rest. Those of us who have the sense to balance our time, or step away from “must-do to succeed” tasks, can pay a price in public criticism and the god called search engine rankings. It’s time for technology and all writers to stop cracking the whip and set better standards. Our online culture needs to allow people to lead balanced lives! We are creating our own hell… but we can create a way out of it, by changing our expectations and what we pressure other writers to do.

As my blog and business have grown, I have had increasing issues with time. I cannot comment on all the visited blog posts I would dearly love to respond to, which makes me feel very guilty. Thanks to Triberr, I have more RTs than I can keep up with. Add on the demands of marketing, networking, supporting other writers, time for writing, home life, book keeping, bills, health challenges and the many, many social media must-dos which I am supposed to follow… it all becomes physically and mentally impossible to keep up with.

For the last few years, I have worked my butt off trying to do it all the right way and it has slowly and surely led to me balancing on the edge of total burn out. So I chosen to step back from much of my prior workload for a time. Does that mean you will judge me as “too big for my britches,” as I need to switch comments off for a time, or because I am not on Twitter saying thanks every day?

I see so many writers say every week. “I am out of ideas.” “I want forget all the social media: I am forcing myself, as I am told I have to.” “My book isn’t working any more, I am going to ditch it. I don’t know what to do.” Guess what, like me, you’re over-tired. If you’re stats are low on blog visits or followers, maybe your content is bad as you’re too tired to think straight and good ideas have stopped flowing. If you’re stuck on a plot problem, maybe you need to let your mental muscles rest and regenerate.

Technically burn out is: “the condition of someone who has become very physically and emotionally tired after doing a difficult job for a long time.” There is a fallacy that if you are doing what you love, you can’t burn out. Yes, you can. Burn out advances faster when you feel trapped, stuck, frustrated or are doing a task you don’t enjoy: but it can still quietly sneak up on you when you are doing what you love. It comes from being out of balance.

It comes from not getting away from your desk and taking “you” time; from giving into the online peer pressure to be so involved in everything, you are too busy for your creative brain to rest and for your stress level to reduce. Long term, those two don’t just lead to writer’s block, increased stress hormones will make your body sick. If you over-rev a car, the motor will burn out. We are no different.

There is an answer: rest, reduce your workload and balance out your time.

Until I feel better, my Triberr shares will automatically appear on Twitter, but I will rarely be doing my usual sharing; I won’t be on Facebook much; my time on Pinterest and Google Plus will be the barest minimum if at all; and I will be rarely reading blog posts I have subscribed to. I am not going to be stupid with my mental and physical health. I have to take time out, now.

According to SEO and all the good advice on success, this is suicide. According to Jeff Goins and his Slow Down Challenge, it is wisdom. For me, it is necessity. I am going to stop and quietly repair.

I challenge you to join me in re-assessing what you’re doing:

Look at your stats and see what social media/promotion doesn’t work, and have the courage to radically reduce your time on it, or stop using it.
Limit the number of days a week you post so you don’t run out of ideas, energy or overload your audience.
Get out of Facebook and Google communities and groups that are unresponsive, spam attractors or criticism ridden. (I exited 17 last week so pull my work load down to a controllable level.)
Stay away from Blogging challenges that are demanding more than 3-4 posts a week, or modify your involvement to what you can handle without stress, regardless of the rules. (I dropped out of two last week. I feel free! I’ll stash away the prompts I like and do them in my own time, for me, when I am ready.)
If you know NaNoWriMo and challenges like it are unrealistic and will scorch your sanity and stress you, don’t do it! Give yourself a longer time frame.
Reduce word counts to a level you know you can achieve and be patience. Just because it takes longer to get there, doesn’t mean you won’t!
Reduce extensive goal lists to the most important and work on no more than three at a time.
Stop being a type A and enjoy your family, friends, fresh air, fun and the good parts of life which involve no computer connection.

Take very good care of yourselves.

Filed under: "Writing Lessons from the Writing Life" Tagged: author, blog, blogging, burn out, failure, marketing, motivation, problem solving, stress management, writer, writing