Burnout

December is almost over, and I realized I forgot to post an update to NaNoWriMo. I finished NaNo 2019 on the last day, reaching a total of 50,102 words. After I logged my last day and claimed my win, I felt a wave of relief. After trying, and failing, for several years, I finally crossed that daunting finish line. I was ecstatic the rest of the day.

The next day, I felt utter exhaustion. To keep with the habit of writing, I open my WIP December 1st. However, no words came to me and I ended up staring at it for ten minutes. Realizing I wasn’t in the mood to write, I turned my computer and did something, anything else to get my mind off my WIP. For the next few days, which turned in to weeks, I didn’t want to think about or look at it. I felt mentally and physically burnt out on writing. I kept saying “just finish it,” but trying to think of the story and characters brought nothing but grief.

About three weeks after NaNo ended, my mind slowly began wandering back to my idea. Eventually the spark came back, in the form of envisioning the ending, and I started to work on my story again. The drive stayed and I’m now about three-fourths of the way done with it. It’s in pretty rough shape, will probably have a hefty chunk cut out and changed, but I just want to finish the draft.

I’ve felt burnout before, but this was the hardest it’s hit me. While I plan to participate in NaNo next year, I hope to figure out a way to write without the burnout again.

How did everyone’s NaNo go? Did you learn anything new about your writing habits? Until next time, have a good day and happy writing!