Writer's block, burnout, beyond inspiration: how to bite back.

Diving back into your creative routine.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been experiencing creative burnout. It began with a straight week of social activity that transitioned right into a work trip. When I returned home, completely exhausted, I allowed myself needed downtime. I didn’t force my writing routine—I lounged, spent way too much time on social media, and somewhere along the way, I lost grip of my creative flow.

It’s easy for this to occur when you drown your thoughts in constant internet noise. Thankfully, this week I’ve begun to climb out my creative block with the help of several simple steps. Because, at the end of the day, all writer’s block comes down to is a lack of curiosity. There are myriad reasons for losing your curiosity—too much external noise, lack of interaction with the natural world, even disinterest in the books you’re consuming—but I assure you there is a path forward to reestablishing curiousness and your creative routine.

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Rediscovering your curiosity

Break up with your phone

In February of this year, I completed a month-long tech fast, and the number one thing I learned was that our phones are sucking the creativity straight from our brains. Seriously, without the draw of social media like Instagram, YouTube, and podcasts, my mind was free to cook up new ideas for my creative writing endeavors. We humans need to be alone with our thoughts in order to stay curious, to meditate and process information, and to reignite interest in our own lives. Previously, I had so much feared being alone with my thoughts that I blasted YouTube videos or podcasts nonstop throughout the day. But without the noise, I rediscovered the comfort I provide myself and the way in which being disconnected from the internet can slow down time, make it more valuable, more precious. Social media is built to steal our attention, to turn it into profit. We have the power to divert our attention to better causes.

I promise, whatever comfort you find in blasting away your thoughts with social media is pure artifice. True contentment comes from within, and when you accept this, you’ll find a wealth of creative inspiration waiting for you if you just listen to yourself.

Check what you’re reading

I always have a book or two on the go—I believe it’s important as both a writer and a person to have a reading practice. But if you’re experiencing writer’s block or burnout, check what you’re currently reading. Does it excite you, are you chomping at the bit to return to the page, or is it boring the hell out of you to the point that you want to throw it against a wall?

Part of my recent creative block was due to this exact issue. I took my first foray into Virginia Woolf with To the Lighthouse, and no shade to one of the greats because the book had some truly beautiful prose, but man, did it zap my energy. The slow pace, the emotional repression, and lack of outward action were not driving me onward. I am glad to have read the novel and am not shunning Woolf for life, but this was definitely part of my issue.

As writers, reading uninspiring work is akin to heading out for a run without proper shoes. How are we to move forward otherwise?

Change your surroundings

In Elizabeth McCracken’s A Long Game: Notes on Fiction Writing, she writes:

“Apart from reading, there is no better training for being a writer than travel. I suppose it does broaden the mind—you learn about other cultures, your powers of empathy deepen—but mostly it takes you out of your own context. Dislocation is helpful to a fiction-writing brain.”

It is currently mid-spring as I write this, and I feel, in my bones, the pent-up need to travel. The most recent trips I have taken were either for my 9-5 job or for my writing work (AWP), which while appreciated, amounted to a lot of sitting around. I desire movement, sun on my skin, a new adventure with my husband. The need to get out of my house and my home city grows stronger the nicer the weather gets, and creative blockages arise for me the longer I view the same scenery.

My husband and I have a quick trip to West Virginia planned this month, but I hope to plan a longer getaway before summer rolls up its red carpet. We’re leaning toward Ontario, and our preliminary plans include plenty of rest, lovely views, and hiking.

Even if you can’t run off on a big trip right now, changing your surroundings to increase your creativity can include a walk around your neighborhood, writing from a new location like a coffee shop or library, or exploring parts of your city that you’ve been putting off.

Being in a new setting around new people can be the best antidote to writer’s block. You may not even be thinking about writing while you’re out and about, but changing your surroundings can be just the thing to create connections in your brain and allow life to inspire your hand on the page.

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What I’m Reading

• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

  • This book is hot stuff right now—a contemporary “tradwife” gets turned back in time to the 1850s to see how she really likes it. I was afraid this book would be “of the moment” mid-tier lit fic, but Burke’s writing is measured and funny, with clear inspiration from tradwives like Hannah Neeleman and Nara Smith. I recommend the audio book, but either way, it’s a quick read with plenty of resonant points.