How I've Been Recovering from Writing Burnout

After writing a novel in 6-7 months, here's how I'm taking time to refill the well and recover from burnout.

A few weeks ago, I finished writing my first adult thriller. It took me about seven months to write eight drafts, often writing 10-12 hours a day and straight through the weekends, as well as through multiple illnesses. The story is so much fun and I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out, but it was a ton of work that didn’t leave much time for me to, you know, be a human who interacts with other humans and does human things like sleep and eat properly.

Afterwards, I intended to jump right into my next manuscript, and even started to revise the opening chapters I’d written last year before moving ahead with drafting.

But then my brain decided to say in an extremely dramatic manner, NO. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. AHHHHHHH.

So, at the encouragement of my extremely supportive husband, I decided to take a solid month off from writing fiction to refill the well and do some soul searching—What will I do next if this book doesn’t sell? Am I truly happy as an author? How can I tie my identity less to my publishing outcomes?—and so forth.

Since I’ve been taking this time for myself, I haven’t been doing much newsletter writing, but I thought I’d fill you in on what I’ve been up to and how I’m using this time to refill the well and recover from the burnout of writing a novel so quickly.

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1. Traveling

One of the best ways for me to truly unplug is to distance myself from where I write every day, and since I work from home, it means getting out of the apartment. I also tend to get lots of inspiration when I travel. After all, I got the idea for Under the Surface—a survival thriller about a group of friends who go missing in the Paris catacombs—while touring the Paris catacombs. So even though I’m an anxious flier, I like getting out and seeing the world.

This time, my husband and I made a quick trip to Quebec City in Canada, which is about a six-hour drive from Boston. No flying! Yay! It was our first time there and it’s such a lovely city, with lots of history, good food, and culture to soak in. And like Montreal, it’s so cool to be able to drive somewhere where everyone speaks French.

We’re also planning a longer trip for the fall, though hopefully by then I’ll be working on whatever project is next. It’s just harder to be spontaneous about destinations further afield.

One personal observation: I’ve had trouble planning trips over the past few years since I’ve been at the mercy of my publishers’ production timelines, and sometimes I don’t find out what my deadlines are until the last minute. But as it turns out, it’s tough to schedule travel even when dealing with self-imposed deadlines. I had to pause revisions for my agent while in Quebec City and pick them back up when I returned (he didn’t give me a deadline; it was up to me how long it took). Still, it was nice to have that extra week at all, so… one point for writing on spec vs. writing under contract.

2. Journaling

During this break, I’ve started journaling so I can do some soul searching and put my most stressful thoughts to paper. I was skeptical of how much it would help, but it’s truly been such a relief. I handwrite in a notebook—typing on my laptop feels too much like work—and it’s nice to go back to basics and hear the scratch of my pen on paper, to give the anxieties swirling around my brain a release.

I’m also keeping a separate notebook as a gratitude journal, where each day I write in it, I list five things I’m grateful for. So one notebook’s for stress venting, and one’s for gratitude. It’s given me a great reason to fill the pretty notebooks I’ve collected that have stayed blank too long!

The gratitude notebook.

To be honest, I don’t journal every day, but I’m giving myself grace to miss days, then journal again. This is the main reason I tend not to journal—I’ve tried before, but if I miss a day, I feel guilty, and over subsequent days the guilt builds and builds until I stop altogether. But… why? The only person holding me accountable is me. The only person judging me is me. Annnnnnnd these are the sorts of thoughts and revelations that make journaling so helpful!

3. Playing video games

After finishing the remaster of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion a few weeks ago, I downloaded Clair Obsur: Expedition 33 since people have been screaming about it on Threads and TikTok. And let me tell you, all that screaming is extremely warranted. It’s an all-consuming, reactive turn-based RPG with a heart-wrenching story, loveable characters, mind-bending twists, gorgeous graphics, gratifying combat (once you learn to parry it seriously feels like you’re meditating), and music that’s altering my brain chemistry.

I don’t want to tell you what it’s about because I went in knowing exactly nothing about the plot, and it was the best way to do it. I’ll just say this: when the prologue ended, I turned to my cat, tears streaming down my face, and said, “Oh, I’m in trouble.”

And I was right. I just finished the game last night, and it destroyed me in the best way. I haven’t been so traumatized by an ending since Mass Effect 3.

I’m so inspired by how this game came out of absolutely nowhere—I’m used to anticipating games I want to play for years¹—and how a 30-person French indie studio, Sandfall Interactive, created such a unique, intricate, stunning gaming experience that’s sold 3+ million copies in two months. It’s shot all the way up my list of all-time favorite video games, possibly even overtaking Baldur’s Gate 3 for the #3 slot. I need to mull on that a bit more.

To anyone who’s also played: didn’t the music absolutely blow your mind? I created a playlist of my faves on Spotify—feel free to steal it. The official album is missing some tracks, like the battle version of For Those Who Come After and The Manor, which… WHY??? Either way, this will be the soundtrack to my life for the foreseeable future.

I swear I didn’t mean for this newsletter to be an advertisement for one specific video game, but here we are!! If you’re a gamer and you haven’t played this yet, put everything else down and play. Do it. DO IT NOW. 🤗

4. Reading comic books

Around the time of the inauguration, I decided I needed some true comfort reading, and my brain leapt to the For Better or For Worse comic series I used to read as a kid. The strip ran in papers from 1979-2008, and it was pretty unique for having complete drama-filled story arcs, following the Patterson family over the years: Elly and John, and their children, Michael, Elizabeth, and April, who aged in real-time. I’m a late 90s / early 00’s millennial, so I grew up between Elizabeth and April and remember racing my mom to the newspaper’s comics page each morning before school to find out what happened next, especially in the love lives of Elizabeth and Michael. And I thought, it’d be so fun to read the entire series straight through!

It took me a couple of months to secure as complete a collection as I could (Ebay helped me fill some gaps), and I’ve been making my way through it chronologically during my writing break, which has been such a joy.

Fun note: One of the second-hand copies arrived in worse condition than was advertised (I’ve managed to flatten the front cover, so it doesn’t look bad in this pic). At first I was a bit peeved, but when it came time to read it, I flipped it open and gasped—the author, Lynn Johnston, had autographed it. It made me tear up, and now it’s my most cherished book of the collection.

5. Reading novels (obviously)

I’ve also been reading books, mostly on audio since my eyeballs have been occupied by video games and comics, and this way I can read while multitasking. Here are some of my favorite audiobooks I’ve listened to recently:

• The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

I’m also working my way through the Silo series by Hugh Howey in print since I watched the first two seasons on Apple TV earlier this year and simply refused to wait a year or more to find out what happens next. I’m about halfway through the third book, Dust, now.

6. Avoiding social media

I’ve been pretty quiet on social media—even on Threads where I’m usually most active—and it’s been such a tremendous relief. I miss connecting with my friends on there at times, and yes, I’m worried that doing zero promo for so long is hurting my books’ sales and exposure. But I’m really not missing the negativity, pressure to post, and unforgiving algorithms. I’d rather write a whole-ass essay for my newsletter than post a single photo to Instagram. Social media is such a consistent drain on my happiness and well-being that removing it from the equation makes a huge difference—so much so that it’s tempting to stay away for good. (Yet there I just went, posting to Instagram again. Sigh. It’s a DISEASE.)

7. Floundering

I’m a workaholic who’s had a job since I was 14 years old, and I’ve never taken this kind of time off in my life. I never had more than a week off between gigs at different companies, either. So I’ll admit, there have been some days where I’ve stared at my laptop, tempted to write, knowing I shouldn’t, that my mind needs space for proper soul searching, but feeling itchy for not being productive. (Hence today’s newsletter.) I have a week left of this break, and I’ll be spending most of it considering what sort of jobs I’d like to pursue if I need to reinter the workforce full-time. I used to do content marketing, but it seems AI has upended that job market within the past three years, soooooo…. question mark question mark question mark???

Anyway. I’ll figure it out. I hope. 😅

Now it’s your turn! Tell me what books, video games, TV shows, or anything else you’ve been enjoying has helped you refill the well and/or recover from burnout. I’d love to hear from you in the comments. 🫶

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1. *Side-eyes Mass Effect and Dragon Age, my #1 and #2 favorite game series.