Just not feeling like doing much the last couple of days. The weekend and spending time with my daughter was nice. I’ve been hiding inside and avoiding the cold and all the snow we’ve had outside. I don’t understand why I haven’t felt like doing anything. I got bored with the box of DVDs I got not long ago. I’m burned out on the writing project I’ve been doing with friends since July. Photoshop hasn’t been very entertaining either, which is very unusual. I haven’t gotten much more accomplished than rotting my brain on facebook and eating my way through a bag of doritos.
Getting the motivation to start the rewrite process on the novel I’ve been working on for over a year isn’t easy. The rough draft is finished, and has been since July, that part isn’t so much the issue. It’s been difficult for me to finish books for the last three years. I used to have a friend named Penny, she was my read along buddy. She was always standing hands out by the printer whenever I finished another chapter or two wanting to see what came next. Penny passed away from cancer three years ago. Writing has been hard ever since then without my one person cheering section behind me, pushing me forward. Maybe that sounds kind of silly, maybe some people will understand, I don’t know. Sometimes it just feels pointless writing stories that no one ever reads.
Sometimes I think we just hit a bit of either exhaustion or burnout… or just plain being in a funk. And we need to step back and take a break. Doing something totally different for a bit. Almost needing to create a feeling of “missing” what we typically enjoy doing.
I totally understand about the personal cheerleader. It is hard, once you have had that, to keep pressing on as you had. It can be hard to be your own cheerleader because we tend to be most critical of ourselves. Is there someone else that could do the same thing that Penny did for you? Not to totally take her place, as that would be impossible, but someone that could offer a bit of the same encouragement?