I think your hair is smoking.

I’m sure there’s been a time in everyone’s life where they’ve piled more onto their plate than they can eat (why do all of my analogies center around food???). Usually it’s not until you’ve added that fifth spoonful of potatoes when you realize that you’ve chipped the edge of the china and you’re going to need a doggie tarp. It doesn’t matter what it’s in; whether your job, your writing or your social life, everyone’s taken on more than they can handle at one point or another. It’s inevitable and most people take it as a learning experience after they’ve been doused with water.

However, I think writers are prone to burn outs of a different variety. Can we take on more than we can bear? Sure. It was one of the reasons why I took down the Boddie blog and the Dawn serial. I was losing focus on what was really important to me and expending my energy in places that shouldn’t have been getting it. I was burning myself out but not on the writing I really wanted to do but on the side projects that I was half committed to but I’d saddled myself with anyway.

To quote Miss Snark who was quoting someone else–

There’s an interesting article in the recent NewYork about burn out. The theory is burnout doesn’t come from over work. It comes from unrealistic expectations and a reduced sense of effectiveness. (Thus social workers with a busy caseload burn out not because they are busy but because they feel their work isn’t accomplishing anything in the long run.)

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