Why I’m Writing Again
There are lots of other ways back to writing when you’re burned out, and that’s part of what brought me back. I gave my brain a break. I let all the pressure I put on myself, which I blogged about in the stories linked above, and dove into things that I like and that I know will bring me back around. If you’re burned out, figure out your strategies and get yourself back into the game. No rush. No hurry. There are no deadlines. Just tell your stories.
Why I Stopped Writing
In 2023, I wrote easily over 100k words. I cranked out tons of other stories and articles, drafting and planning a slew of serialized fiction tales and working on a complete rewrite of the first mystery novel in a series I have planned while also writing the fourth novel in the series. If that wasn’t bad enough, I started rebooting on my website a 150-episode serial I wrote with friends back in 2010–12.
I thought I could do it all, and I won’t say that I still can’t. The ideas are there, and I won’t deny them. All those words, stories, and characters are in my head, waiting for their turn, and I don’t want to deny them. But I did for a minute — well, for the last seven months. I hit a wall, but it wasn’t a wall of energy or a wall of ideas or a wall based on finding a new hobby. This unloved ukulele can attest to that. It was something different.
In the middle of all, I hit the wall of expectations.
In Case of Alice, Break Glass
The best and worst thing about Alice was that she was a bitch. She was a straight loner most of the time, more often than not the hottest thing I saw in any given day, and generally the most frustrating woman I’d ever met; but that’s what I loved about her, and that’s what made just about everyone else want to punch her in the face.