How to Avoid Writer's Burnout

Write because you love it, not because you have to. If you can stop a moment from the projects, the script, the novel, grant or article and instead write for the sake of getting words out on paper, you will be proactive in preventing writer's. All writers burn out, and that goes for novelists, screenwriters, journalists as well as online writers. If you want to avoid the burnout, and the eventual writer's block, sometimes you need to just walk away from the current project and write to write.

If you are driven by a deadline or payment, you might, as runners call it, 'bonk' or hit the wall. You won't be able to write. If the 'right to write' drives you, then write and be as free as you can possibly for the love of it.

Here are three easy tips that you can do on a daily basis to avoid the pitfalls of writer's before you 'bonk'.

1. Twenty in Five
2. Mix it up
3. Slow down

If you have identified an overwhelming feeling of the pressures of writing, take a break. Kick back with a favorite beverage and relax before you are forced to recuperate. Be proactive and in this case, take the proverbial preventative medicine to avoid the burnout.

1. Twenty in Five

This is the brainstorming session you need as a writer. Not the brainstorming session where you look for the next great idea for a story or script, but to get your brain going and let it all out. Team of writers brainstorm together, this is your personal brainstorming session to get ideas out in a given amount of time.

'Twenty in Five' means to sit down for 5 minutes and jot down 20 ideas: good, bad, or even ugly.

From: writing prompts, a full-blown topic of discussion, an invention, an idea to create the next new diet pill, or the next syndicated cartoon strip. These ideas are not bound to writing, but ideas that get your mind to go in different directions.

You will find that 'Twenty in Five' may take 3 minutes or less. Once you get used to this on a daily basis, you will have a collection of 20 ideas a day - which can lead to a wider range of topics to write about.

2. Mix it up

Discover who you are and get back to who you were before you became a full fledged writer. Rekindle that high school you - were you a clown in high school but all you write now are dramatic prose or political theory because that's what you ended up studying in college? Get back to who you were before you were a writer and rebuild 'that' voice. You might find a whole new you if you mix up your writing style after years of the 'same old thing.'

If you are a technical writer and write "How To" articles for Helium, try something new outside of articles like descriptive prose, or tragic dialogue. Break up the monotony of writing in 3rd person and write in 1st person - for yourself. Break up the rhythm of your writing - let it flow if you are a choppy straight forward writer or chop it up in short quick sentences if you tend to be a flowery writer.

3. Slow down

Typing 90 words a minute on a laptop or scribbling a journal entry as fast as you can in order to catch up to your thoughts may be what you are used to. For once, take the time to pen a sentence without rushing through the words.

Slow down and watch your shoulders relax as you type, and your hand cramps less when you pen something. Slowing down your writing can lead to a brain that can think freely as you write versus a brain that is going a mile a minute while you write.

Slowing down gives your voice a breather for once. And this can lead to a relaxing date with a paragraph instead of a stress filled jaunt with a piece of work bound by a deadline.

Practice these 3 easy tips to avoid writer's burnout and watch your productivity grow. Write for the sake of writing - you have the right to!