Writer’s Fatigue.

“”I’ve seen enough episodes of Friends to know that cohabitation leads to sex, drugs, and something Parade Magazine calls ‘Schwimmer Fatigue’.” –Shirley Bennett, Community

(How is there not an image of this beautiful quote readily available? If I had an image program, I would make one, gosh darn it).

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve experienced it, but I think I’ve found myself in a state of Writer’s Fatigue. Writer’s Fatigue is that feeling that settles in when you spend most of your time writing, a feeling I had before my last job went into full gear and there were actually periods of time when I could sit down and write for a few days before having to go back to the grind. Now that I’m writing full time, I suppose it’s pretty impressive for the first fit of WF to settle in, but I was definitely feeling it yesterday. Maybe it’s the dreary weather, maybe it’s something else, but I’m definitely getting that restlessness that is a key sign of Writer Fatigue. It’s when you spend all day writing, but, at the end of the day, you feel braindead and like you haven’t really accomplished much at all and you start to wonder why you’re even bothering with such a futile dream.

Writer’s Fatigue can be dangerous if you let it get to you, but the key thing to remember (that I’ve been reminding myself of all morning) is that writing is a pursuit that doesn’t even know the words “instant gratification.” You have to be patient with writing. You have to be able to grind out words or edits and blog posts no matter how tedious it seems at that moment, because, eventually, it’s going to pay off. Not that night, probably not even that week, most likely not even that month. But it will pay off, so you have to keep going, even through the Writer’s Fatigue.

Anyone else frequently suffer from Writer’s Fatigue? What do you do to help lift you out of that inevitable funk? Usually, I just keep forging through it, because sometimes, taking a break makes me feel ever worse. A change in the routine can help, too. Today, I’m going with the boyfriend to visit his parents, which could be a good change of pace. Hopefully, the bout of WF passes and I can get back to blazing through words in no time.