Battling Burnout ~ 10 Tips for Helping You Overcome Writer’s Block

Ruthy here! Today I'm hosting guest blogger Emily Wierenga, and her words of wisdom about writing, faith, motherhood, family and balance... Emily is giving away copies of her debut novel, "A Promise in Pieces", and

a copy of her just published memoir "Atlas Girl".....

Join me in a big Seekerville welcome!

I pin the colored fabric as though savoring a mango, this slice of time so sweet, and the sounds of children splashing in the pool. And all I want is to rest. To open wide this moment and step into it, to sit on a beach chair and hold my babies and breathe in their skin, and funny how, once you get what you want, all you can think about is the other.

But I am learning to write, in spite of myself.

Because I want to honor the call.

But I also don’t want to miss out on my children. Nor the man I made them with.

And sometimes, I’m just plain worn out. I don’t have any more words in me, and hasn’t it all been said before?

So how do we do it? How do we balance the laptop with the laundry and the liturgy?


How do we still our souls in a world that never sleeps?


To know God, in the stillness. Less of us, more of him, and sometimes we think we have to produce when really, we’re slaves to no one. Christ calls us friends, and there is freedom in this. We serve God alone, and have nothing to fear. So, when we’re burning out, we need to quiet our souls.


Here, friends, are 10 ways to find that stillness:

1.       Turn off the laptop. I have made a habit of turning it off for the entire morning and spending those hours with my pre-schoolers. By noon, I’m normally more than excited to begin to write, and all of the fear of yesterday has fled in light of having a space of “me time.” Even if you turn it off for a full day, then return to it in the evening, let your mind, let your spirit, breathe. The sound of victory whooshing through your soul.

2.       Cry, and laugh, a lot. Experience that ALIVE feeling again. Remember: “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a (poor) first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life

3. Read. Whether it’s a novel or a memoir or the Psalms in your pajamas, don’t read the same kind of genre you’re writing in, or you’ll get your own writing voice mixed up with someone else’s. So if you’re writing fiction, read non-fiction, and vice-versa.

4. Take a bath with some Epsom salts and a candle.

5. Eat some dark chocolate. And then eat some more.

6. Write a letter to someone you trust.

7. Surround yourself with inspiration. My friend constantly mails me encouraging quotes and artwork; I have posted these quotes and pieces of art above my desk to provide visual stimulation.

8. Hug your kids. Because they’re your greatest story. It’s incredible to be able to make up stories but it’s even more incredible to live them. To hear the words tumbling from your child’s mouth as he talks about his favorite blue flashlight as you lie beside him in his bunk-bed. “Some flashlights are small, and some are big, and some are tiny and some are huge,” he says as he slips his hand into yours there in the dark.

9. Kiss your husband. Because he’s your biggest fan.

10. Pray. The kind of praying that finds you on the floor. The kind that feels like home. Pray as you write, as you edit, as you rest. Pray through it all. Because God is the Word. He gave you this calling. So trust him to work through you, even on days when the pool and the sunlight and the birds are calling. For in the end, it’s all about him. And if he doesn’t write through us, we write in vain.

Don’t be afraid to rest friends, because in doing so, you give OTHERS permission to rest. And in the stillness, we know God. We hear his voice. We hear him wooing.
So, KNOW when to write, and when to stop.


And if God is calling you to write, then know you’re engaged in a spiritual battle because this is what this writing world is friends: it’s a place to speak the truth in love. It’s a place to engage, sometimes, in battle. Our words are holy tools being used to carve out the tomb, to resurrect a God the world says is dead, to point and say–LOOK, he’s alive and he’s here in our midst and do we know Him?

Do our words know him? Do our families and our children and our husbands and our relatives know him? Does the man who delivers your mail know him? Does anything else matter?

I totally love, love, love this picture!!!!!  Emily's website is HERE: http://www.emilywierenga.com/

Visit there. You will love it. I promise. 

Now to the business of food!!!! We've got coffee and cronuts inside, I brought them back FRESH from Manhattan (okay, they have like a two-hour shelf life, so that's not GOOD 48 hours later, 'sall I'm sayin'....) Never mind the cronuts, we'll feast on God's love today.... and pastries from Financier on Williams St.

Please welcome our guest Debra Ullrick

http://debraullrick.com/

WRITER’S BURNOUT

by Debra Ullrick
Recently, I’ve been going through something I didn’t know had a name. It’s called… Writer’s Burnout. How do I know this?
Well, I stumbled across an article that fit me to a Tee and explained exactly what I was going through.
The woman who had written the article had lost three grandparents in a short period of time and a fourth was in the hospital. During this sad time, she had numerous deadlines which she managed to meet even with a broken wrist. But, when she finished the last one, she found no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t write a single word and that was so unlike her. The woman had no idea what was wrong until she discovered she was suffering from Writer’s Burnout. She had no idea what to do. Finally, she mustered up some much needed courage and told her editor and agent what she was going through. Much to her relief, they were very understanding.

What does everything she went through have to do with me?

Well, like her, I had a terrible time writing and had no idea why. Ever since last August something strange has happened inside me. Several mornings, I would wake up thinking… “Oh crud, I woke up.” Not good, and so unlike me. I couldn’t understand why I felt the way I did. All I knew was, stress and depression were taking their physical toll on my body. I soon discovered what the problem was.

This year, a few days before Mother’s Day rolled around, my mother’s death hit me hard. My mom died October 30, 2011. To make matters worse, on Mother’s Day of 2012 my beloved brother-in-law of 44 years passed away. Five months later, my cousin passed away and three months after that my father-in-law died. No wonder I was struggling and depressed. But I didn’t understand or know that until recently.

Click to Buy

You see, I never took the time to grieve for any of them. I was too busy. And lately, I have been missing my mother something awful and wishing I had spent more time with her. I know I can’t go back and change things, but what I can do is learn from her death, and I have. In fact, I learned an invaluable lesson. I might have a deadline, but I can’t neglect those I love because of them. Unfortunately that lesson came too late for me where my mom and brother-in-law are concerned, but it’s not too late for those who are still living.

I’m noticing a change already. I’m allowing myself the time to grieve for those I have lost who were so dear to me. Something I hadn’t done before because I was too busy. I’m not complaining, mind you, as I am very grateful and thankful for every book contract I have received.

I am also stepping back, taking a break, and rejuvenating my creativity again by reading for the pure pleasure of it. I’m also taking time to enjoy the little things of life again, like watching movies, sitting outside in the early mornings listening to the birds and the sounds of summer, and spending time with friends and family who had stopped “bothering” me because I was on a deadline. I now take time and will stop what I am doing to talk with them, to share a meal with them, and to just enjoy their company. Having already started this, I can feel the joy of life and writing rising up in me again. And that’s an awesome, awesome thing. *smiling*

Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for a copy of The Unintended Groom
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The Unintended Groom
A Perfect PartnershipWhen Abby Bowen's dream of love is dashed, she pursues a new dream: opening a dinner theater in Hot Mineral Springs, Colorado. There's just one hitch: she needs a male business partner. The handsome father of twins who answers Abby's ad is perfect…perhaps too perfect. Working with someone like Harrison Kingsley—without losing her heart—will be harder than Abby anticipated.

It's a good thing Harrison's arrangement with Abby is strictly business. Because with her kind soul, smiling blue eyes and gentle way with his boys, he could easily fall for her. But the longer he works with Abby, the more Harrison realizes that the Lord might have an entirely different partnership planned for them.
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Hi there! I’m Debra Ullrick an award-winning Christian romance author. In addition to multiple full-length novels, my stories have been featured in several novella collections, one of which made the New York Times bestseller’s list. I am happily married to my wonderful, hunky-cowboy husband of thirty-nine years, and I have one married daughter. For over twenty-five years, my husband and I lived and worked on cattle ranches in the Colorado Mountains. A famous movie star and her screenwriter husband are partial owners of the last ranch we lived at. Some of my favorite things are animals, classic cars, mud-bog racing, and monster trucks. When I’m not writing, I’m reading, feeding wild birds, or watching Jane Austen movies, COPS, Bachelor/Bachelorette, or Castle.