I was initially going to title this post "The Value of Hand-writing Your Story" but I realized even before my fingers hit the keyboard that there is value in changing up your method, locale, genre, preferred length of work and more whenever daily writing takes on aspects of being a chore instead of a beloved outlet and means of self-expression.

In recent weeks, I have to admit, I've had a difficult time keeping the passion flowing into my writing. I suspect that the recent stumble onto a story idea that is too similar to an existing one--that was actually made into a movie, for God's sake, that I had heard NOTHING about--is behind my diminished focus and direction.

So, did I give up writing every day? No. Did I suffer from writer's block. No. So what did I do?

I struggled, first of all. It wasn't easy but what I found worked for me was identifying and changing up every aspect of my writing. Instead of writing at my writing station--which is nothing more than turning my chair 180° from my work work station to face my laptop--I moved my laptop downstairs, onto the back patio, to various coffee shops, and in my car using an inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter. Instead of whittling away on my novel-length works, I went to the opposite extreme, challenging myself to write Twitter-length (140 characters, not words, characters) stories and slightly longer flash fiction pieces. And in the last week, instead of using the laptop, I've been writing longhand in one of the composition notebooks left over from my recent engagement at Eisenhower.

As a result of these changes, I was able to keep writing every day. Trudging along the way I was, I was risking a genuine burn-out. Now I have emerged, eager to get back to my old ways soon, not quite yet but soon. I'm actually liking the pace and method of writing longhand for the piece I'm working on. I think, in the interest of consistency, I'd be wise to finish the first draft in the same manner I started. Doing so is nowhere near as fast as far as letters per minute is concerned but there's something more focused about writing this way.

So my advice to you is try to recognize early when you're entering a burn-out phase and stir the pot in any and every way you know how. The works you're in the middle of can probably wait and would probably be better served if you did. Deal with the burn-out first then return to work as usual but exercise care not to make your burn-out an easy excuse to get sloppy with your writing. Your focus is still on the craft even if everything around it has changed for a time.