Dealing With Writer Burnout
When I first started publishing my stories, I thought writer burnout was a myth. Writing is fun. How could I get tired of a fun task?
Seven years later, I can assure you—younger me was an ignorant asshole. Writer burnout is VERY real. Do any task 16 hours a day, 7 days a week and it can become work. Unfortunately, almost every writer deals with writer burnout at least once in her/his life.
I know I’m getting burned out when I dread the writing. I’m tired all the time and feel overwhelmed about everything. I get every flu that is going around. I become snippy with readers and other loved ones and, well, just about everyone.
The Number One Cause
The number one cause of writer burnout is overcommitting to projects. It is tempting to participate in every project offered to you. Caution! Caution! That way lies burnout. It is much better career-wise to participate in a manageable number of projects forever than to binge on projects, get burned out, and stop writing for months or years or, in the case of a dear friend, decades.
The Fear Of Missing Out
You can’t participate in every project. You simply can’t. Have I regretted saying ‘no’ to some projects? I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass. Of course, I have. The first boxed set I was asked to participate in hit both the New York Times and the USA Today Bestseller Lists. I turned that opportunity down.
But most opportunities come around again. I’ve, since then, participated in two boxed sets that hit the USA Today Bestseller List. I’ve been offered spots in other boxed sets that made both lists.
The Fear Of Falling Behind
Another reason we hesitate to say ‘no’ to projects is the fear of falling behind. XXX is releasing a story a month. If I release a story every 3 months, I’ll fall behind. I’ll only have a third of XXX’s success.
Success in Romanceland doesn’t work that way. Fifty Shades of Grey’s E.L. James has released 4 books over the past 5 years. Yep, less than a book a year. Very few writers have a readership rivaling hers.
I have a much larger readership now than I did when I was producing a story a month. With a release a month, I didn’t have time to talk about my books. I was releasing stories but I didn’t tell anyone about them. Readers have to know about our books in order to read them.
Promotion can have a huge influence on success. The number of stories released every year? Not-so-much.
Pressure From Readers
If one of your stories is well loved by readers, you will likely be pressured to write another story in the series. Readers always want this story as soon as possible. Why wouldn’t they?
But they’ll wait for it. Most readers will choose a slow release time on quality story over a fast turnaround time on a shitty story. (Note: You CAN write a quality story in a short length of time but that’s usually not possible to do when you’re burned out and brain dead.) Romance readers, in particular, want to read new stories from their favorite writers for decades. They’ll accept longer delays between releases to ensure that happens.
Know Your Ideal Pace
Figure out what a comfortable schedule looks like for you (this ideal schedule will likely change over time).
Right now, my comfortable schedule is a 56k/200 page story releasing every 3 months. For promotion, it is 1 Facebook party a week, 3 blog posts a week, promoting on 10 Facebook groups a day, 1 newsletter a month, etc.
This is what I commit to. This is what others can count on me producing. If I want to release a story in a series every three months, this means I can only have one series on the go.
If I’m approaching burnout, THIS is the core schedule I’ll dial back to.
If I get ahead of this schedule, I’ll take on another project. Right now, I have February’s release (Hers To Command) already written, edited and available for pre-order. The next core story isn’t releasing until May (my 3 month schedule). Having time and energy, I wrote Dark Thoughts, Kralj’s story. If I had been burned out, I would have taken time to recuperate between the committed stories instead of writing that extra story.
That’s one of the many wonderful things about this career. You’re in control. You can craft the career YOU want.
If one story a year is your comfort zone, produce one story a year. You can easily promote that story for 12 months. Unless your story has sold more than 125 million copies (the number of copies Fifty Shades Of Grey has sold), you haven’t sold your story to every reader in Romanceland.
You’re Already Over Committed
What happens when you’re looking at writer burnout and you’ve already committed to more projects than you can handle?
Can Deadlines Move?
Some deadlines are set in stone. Some can move. Ask if the deadlines are flexible.
Note: If you’re going to miss a deadline, communicate the situation as soon as possible. That might save your relationship with that person or publisher.
Outsource Everything You Can
An awesome editor once told me that she could help a writer with edits and subsequent drafts but the first draft had to be written by the writer. That’s just about the only thing we can’t outsource.
Cover, formatting, promo, newsletters, all of these things can be completed by other people. You can pay these awesome folks or you can call in favors. Much of Romanceland runs on favors, asking for them and granting them.
You’re Normal
Every writer you know has either had writer burn out or they will have writer burn out. They might look like they have their shit together. They likely don’t.
If my tips don’t work for you, ask other writers for their tips. Eventually you’ll find something that jives with your unique brain.
Take care of yourself!
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Three Battered Hearts. One Perfect Love
Ace and Thrasher share a special bond. They’ve never acknowledged that connection and have never fully acted on it. The Humanoid Alliance kill cyborg males like them, deeming the warriors to be defective. Now that Ace and Thrasher have escaped, they don’t trust the cyborg council and their brethren to react any differently. Physical love is too risky for them to consider.
Until they meet her.
Carys is the Commander of a Rebel Battle Station. She has dedicated her lifespan to seeking vengeance against the Humanoid Alliance and the cyborgs who killed her daughter. On her battle station, she makes the rules, and if she wants to kiss, touch, and pleasure two mysterious warriors, she will. Nothing, not even enemy warships and a mass cyborg rebellion, can stop her.
In the midst of a war, enemies can become lovers and loyalties can change in a moment. Can a forbidden relationship between two cautious cyborgs and one unbending human Commander survive?
Hers To Command is Book 8 in the Cyborg Sizzle series.
Due to the number of returning characters in this story, you’ll enjoy Hers To Command more if you’ve read the other stories first.
This is a MMF BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Hers-Command-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B01N0I7X49/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hers-Command-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B01N0I7X49/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/hers-to-command/id1179869260
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-herstocommand-2178067-340.html
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hers-to-command-cynthia-sax/1125247346
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/hers-to-command-6
Topics: Writing Tips | 4 Comments »
First Excerpt From Breathing Vapor
I’m sharing a first short excerpt from Breathing Vapor today at Decadent Divas
http://thedecadentdivas.blogspot.ca/2015/10/the-second-story-challenge-by-cynthia.html
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Vapor is the most advanced cyborg the Humanoid Alliance has ever developed. He’s a finely honed weapon, a warrior without parallel, half man and half machine. No lock can contain him. No being can stop him. Whatever he wants, he takes.
He wants Mira Breazeal, the Designer’s daughter.
She’s his one temptation, his sexy target. Vapor shouldn’t crave her caresses, steal her kisses, make her scream with ecstasy. The cyborgs want her dead and they would question his loyalty if he didn’t kill her. The humans would shoot him on sight if he dared to touch her.
Their love is forbidden. Their desire could be lethal. One human and one cyborg will risk everything for a moment of passion.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Breathing-Vapor-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B015UN87JC/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breathing-Vapor-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B015UN87JC/
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-breathingvapor-1897324-340.html
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breathing-vapor-cynthia-sax/1122718203
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Grey And Stories From Another Perspective
The big news in erotic romance this week was the announcement of the upcoming release of Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian. The original Fifty Shades was told completely from the heroine’s point of view. This story is a retelling from the hero’s point of view.
E.L. James isn’t the first writer to do this. Many romance writers who write in one point of view have published retellings in the other point of view (or, at least, have considered it). Some have been successful, attracting new readers, making their existing readers very happy. A few have seen the retelling out sell the original. Some have failed disastrously, upsetting their existing readers, perhaps losing them forever. This is a high risk project.
Why is it high risk?
Because with a retelling, the reader already knows the plot. We know exactly what will be done and what will be said and when all of this will happen. The only things we don’t know are (sometimes) the new point of view character’s thoughts and his (usually his) detailed history.
I say sometimes because often the original point of view characters will discover her love interest’s thoughts and history. In my contemporary erotic romance, Breaking All The Rules, the story is told through Camille’s eyes but readers learn quite a bit about Nate’s history and his thoughts. Retelling the story from his point of view wouldn’t provide the reader with much more information. The reader would be bored.
And I would be bored writing it. I’m a pantser. Part of the joy of writing for me is finding out what will happen next in my stories. With a ‘retold’ story, I know this. There’s no mystery. I also know what my hero is thinking, what his history is, what his biggest fears are. I might not put it on the page but I know all of this. I must in order to create a believable character.
There’s a reason I write my stories from a certain character’s (or multiple characters’) point of view. He Watches Me was originally written from both Anna’s and Blaine’s points of view. It didn’t work as a story. When I wrote it solely from Anna’s point of view, magic happened. Flashes of Me and Sinful Rewards wouldn’t work if I showed the hero’s point of view.
Will Grey work? I hope so. E.L. James and her editors clearly think it does. We’ll find out on June 18th.
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The thrilling conclusion to the Billionaires and Bikers series!
One tiny mistake turns Bee Carter’s worst fears into a terrifying reality. She knows she isn’t alone. The sexy, honorable man she adores stands by her side, willing to sacrifice his freedom to ease her concerns.
But she yearns for more than he is offering. She wants a partner who will love her as fiercely as she loves him, who will say the words and mean them, and someone who will choose her because this is what he desires more than anything else, not merely out of a misguided sense of duty.
Will saying no to the man she loves earn Bee unbearable heartache or will she finally get the forever she craves?
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinful-Rewards-12-Billionaires-Novella-ebook/dp/B00NVLNYDA
Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sinful-rewards-12-cynthia-sax/1120380067
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Are Billionaire Heroes Cliché?
I write about billionaire heroes in my contemporary erotic romances and I’m often asked if billionaires are becoming cliché. Are you tiring of them?
In my humble opinion, billionaire heroes will become cliché when writers write clichéd billionaires. I view billionaire as being a short form for successful, a man at the top of his game, the alpha of the business world. I doubt we’ll ever tire of these types of heroes. We want our heroes to be successful.
My billionaires (or multimillionaires in the cases of Henley from Flashes Of Me and Nate from Breaking All The Rules) aren’t Christian Grey. E. L. James has fully explored her intriguing Fifty Shades Of Grey hero. There’s no reason for me to write about a similar billionaire. Heck, I doubt E.L. James would want to write about a similar billionaire!
My billionaire heroes are all different, with different issues, different problems, different likes and dislikes. They hold different jobs, see their roles in the world very differently.
A billionaire financier is nothing like a billionaire hacker or a billionaire security professional. A billionaire raised by a single mom isn’t the same man as a billionaire orphaned at a young age. A billionaire who has gone to prison will have a different view on the world than a billionaire who has never been in trouble with the law.
These billionaires are as unique as you and I are.
This means I can’t predict how you will react to my heroes, if you’ll like Nate as much as Henley, Henley as much as Blaine. I’m chewing my fingernails to the nubs wondering if you’ll like Nicolas, the billionaire real estate developer in Sinful Rewards (Test reading buddies love him but what if these test reading buddies are the only ones? Yes, writers are a wee bit nuts. We worry about everything.).
But this is the risk writers take when we write any new character, even a sexy billionaire. In order to bring you fresh characters, characters who aren’t clichés, we risk bringing you a hero you might not love as much.
What type of billionaire hero would you like to see? A biker billionaire? An artist billionaire? A lottery billionaire?
Nathan Lawford, Blaine Technologies’ chief financial officer, is known as the Iceman. He conducts his personal and business affairs without emotion, never allowing himself to become involved with anyone. When Nate sees something or someone he wants, he negotiates, paying a simple, set monetary price.
Now he wants Camille, the company’s green-haired intern.
Camille Joplin Trent never expected to be paid to pleasure the man of her dreams. She can’t quite figure out why this is a bad thing. Nate is intelligent, handsome, sophisticated, everything she’s ever wanted in a lover and never thought she could have. Their contract is for a month, thirty lust-filled days of making every sexual fantasy they’ve ever had come true. At the end of this month, the rules state their relationship will end.
Of course, Camille has never been good at following rules.
Buy Now At Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-All-Rules-Erotic-Novella-ebook/dp/B00F2I2GXY
Buy Now At ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-breakingalltherules-1453084-149.html
Topics: Guest Post | 2 Comments »
