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A review by verymom
Dear Writer, Are You In Burnout? by Becca Syme
4.0
I found this book by googling "writers burnout, writers motivation." I wasn't familiar with the author's youtube channel or her courses.
Her penny theory is great. It's a lot like the spoon theory in the chronic illness community. She describes the way we get to burnout in a very digestible way. We approach the fulcrum, we hit the slide, and then we reach that 'rock bottom' place at the bottom of a deep pit. At the bottom of the deep pit we must change the inertia of the things that got us there (deadlines, preorders, etc.) before we can even begin to think about recovery. The pit forces us to sleep and rest and do all the self care things that generally fall by the wayside when we're trying to crush a deadline. Only after we rest and gather more spoons (or pennies) can we begin to build a ladder out. And the ladder part isn't simple either, you can backslide, or you can spend a long time on the top rung, not sure if you are capable of getting back into the swing of things yet.
I've been at the bottom of the pit for about two months. I am in the early stages of figuring out how to build that first rung, and part of that might require me cancelling my preorder for book two... or at least accepting that it is a real possibility, before I can even begin to move forward.
I've already delayed the preorder twice (Amazon is currently allowing two preorder delays without penalty due to covid-19). I believe I'm out of chances now. If I can't make the new preorder date of July 13, I'll have to cancel & face the loss of preorder privileges for a year. I have a lot of shame in failing, but I'm realizing more and more that the indie refrain to publish quickly isn't for me. I can write a book very quickly (90K words in one month is absolutely no problem for me), but I edit and revise slowly. Like, molasses level slow. Like multiple YEARS slow. I've known this about myself (and it was a big reason I agonized over taking the trad pub contracts I was offered), but I think I still held out hope that I could figure it out. That I could still maybe release every three months, or every six months... still faster than trad pub, but slower than some of those machine indies who turn out a new book every month.
Can't do it.
I can't sacrifice quality for speed, even when I know that a high percentage of readers won't notice or won't care about all the little details I agonize over.
The preorder has been a very heavy mental burden. I've learned a lot of things about myself. I can't list a preorder until I know the book is ready. There is just no way I can 'estimate' a launch date when I'm still in the middle of revisions.
Anyway. Rambling here, but I appreciated this book. It helped me feel seen & validated a lot of what I was already working through.
Her penny theory is great. It's a lot like the spoon theory in the chronic illness community. She describes the way we get to burnout in a very digestible way. We approach the fulcrum, we hit the slide, and then we reach that 'rock bottom' place at the bottom of a deep pit. At the bottom of the deep pit we must change the inertia of the things that got us there (deadlines, preorders, etc.) before we can even begin to think about recovery. The pit forces us to sleep and rest and do all the self care things that generally fall by the wayside when we're trying to crush a deadline. Only after we rest and gather more spoons (or pennies) can we begin to build a ladder out. And the ladder part isn't simple either, you can backslide, or you can spend a long time on the top rung, not sure if you are capable of getting back into the swing of things yet.
I've been at the bottom of the pit for about two months. I am in the early stages of figuring out how to build that first rung, and part of that might require me cancelling my preorder for book two... or at least accepting that it is a real possibility, before I can even begin to move forward.
I've already delayed the preorder twice (Amazon is currently allowing two preorder delays without penalty due to covid-19). I believe I'm out of chances now. If I can't make the new preorder date of July 13, I'll have to cancel & face the loss of preorder privileges for a year. I have a lot of shame in failing, but I'm realizing more and more that the indie refrain to publish quickly isn't for me. I can write a book very quickly (90K words in one month is absolutely no problem for me), but I edit and revise slowly. Like, molasses level slow. Like multiple YEARS slow. I've known this about myself (and it was a big reason I agonized over taking the trad pub contracts I was offered), but I think I still held out hope that I could figure it out. That I could still maybe release every three months, or every six months... still faster than trad pub, but slower than some of those machine indies who turn out a new book every month.
Can't do it.
I can't sacrifice quality for speed, even when I know that a high percentage of readers won't notice or won't care about all the little details I agonize over.
The preorder has been a very heavy mental burden. I've learned a lot of things about myself. I can't list a preorder until I know the book is ready. There is just no way I can 'estimate' a launch date when I'm still in the middle of revisions.
Anyway. Rambling here, but I appreciated this book. It helped me feel seen & validated a lot of what I was already working through.