• Demons of Oblivion
    • Bloodlines
    • Hunter
    • Lineage
    • Exhumed
    • Oblivion
    • Novellas, Shorts, & Collections
  • River Wolfe
    • River
    • Rebellion
    • How the Werewolf Stole Christmas
    • Wolfe
  • Livi Talbot
    • Solomon’s Seal
    • Odin’s Spear
    • Ashford’s Ghost
    • Emperor’s Tomb
    • Shiva’s Bow
    • Yampellec’s Idol
    • Charon’s Gold
  • Elis O’Connor
    • Blood Ties
    • Witch Hunt
    • Soul Spell
    • Hell Fire
    • Demon Fall
    • Season of the Bitch
  • Waverly Jones Mysteries
    • The Killing Beach
    • A Wild Kind of Darkness
    • Alone at Night
    • Silent All These Years
    • A Dark and Distant Home
  • Standalone
    • The Silent Places
    • Dweller on the Threshold
    • Watcher of the Woods
    • The Taiga Ridge Murders
  • Boxsets
    • Hauntings: Two Tales of the Paranormal
  • Audio
  • Sales

Skyla Dawn Cameron

My characters kill people so I don't have to.

  • Books
    • Demons of Oblivion
    • River Wolfe
    • Livi Talbot
    • Elis O’Connor
    • Waverly Jones
    • Standalone Books
    • Boxsets & Bundles
    • Content Warnings
  • Skyla
    • Newsletter
    • FAQs
    • Skyla’s Home for Wayward Strays
      • Sponsor a Cat
  • Blog
    • Soundtrack Sunday Overview
    • Comment Policy
    • Evil Writer Blog Posts
    • Evil Writer Blog Posts – Old Site
  • Patronage
  • Shop Books
    • eBooks Direct
    • Deals/Sales
  • Upcoming
  • Hire Skyla
You are here: Home / blog / Burnout Recovery

February 20, 2023 By Skyla Dawn Cameron Leave a Comment

Burnout Recovery

As patrons know from my post last week, or write-in participants from the Saturday before last, I’m rather burnt out. And also aware that the expectations I put on myself are completely unreasonable (like upset that I hadn’t written a rough draft of a book yet “this year”…it’s February lol). I’d worked extra hours the week before last to get a bunch of things done, so I could take off Mon – Wed to write (and celebrate release day, and Shawn’s birthday) and I just…had nothing in the tank. So I reread several books in my favourite series and that seemed to jangle a few things loose.

Tentatively on Saturday, I decided I could at least find something small to work on during the write-in with everyone. The Killing Beach is out in three months and I have to get it formatted, so I pulled that out thinking I’d do another full pass but instead spent the day jumping around, inserting new chapter breaks, working on bits and pieces. There are still lines in there from the very, very first iteration, when it was third person past tense and Waverly was a very, very different character. None of the POV/tense problems are still there, but Waverly as a character changed so much during all the times I tried to write the book, and I know her so well now that I’ve written four and a half books with her, those bits really stood out to me. I’d kept them because I loved them but they belonged to a different girl. My rough drafts are always very lean so I generally have to add rather than cut, but this is I’ve grudgingly killed my darlings. We’re on draft three now, it’s been edited, and there’s no time to be precious.

But then I started having a little flickering thought. Maybe it’s the burnout compromising me, but looking ahead at the series…at some point my brain said, “This is missing someone. You need someone to fill X role going forward. You could introduce them in this one…”

Like I don’t already have enough going on.

Surprisingly, it’s weaving in really quickly and works to give Waverly a nudge at the right time, putting some pieces of the mystery together a little better. Last night I did have a moment of thinking…is this a mistake? Am I out of my mind right now?

Maybe.

But it’s also not the first time. I remember Emperor’s Tomb had been through seven revisions, content editing and copyediting, I was proofreading, but one element wasn’t sitting right with me. In a vacuum, it was fine, but nothing we write exists like that, and taking in consideration what could be extrapolated from it, I considered what else I could do instead. So…something like three weeks or so, before release, I actually changed a small but significant thing that fixed that issue for me.

Emperor has that element in common with TKB, I guess: both were books that went under extensive revisions, that took me a long time to find my way into. I suppose it’s a little more natural, then, to continue to poke at it late in the game.

I’ve added about 3K now to TKB and I’ve got one more scene to write, a little bit more to tweak, then I can review it all and format it for print and then get it out for proofreading. I’ve also decided the hardcovers with the Nancy Drew-esque covers will also have some bonus goodies–at this point, I’ll do a short essay in each one discussing the influences around the main mystery (and possibly each will have a vegan pub recipe for something Waverly eats at the bar during the book). That’s started with this one, but burnout inhibited even that kind of writing.

Anyway, trying to ease some pressure on myself, and you know, if all I do this year is write Hell Fire for serializing at Patreon and then revising Waverly 2 for Nov release and Waverly 3 and 4 for release next year (not the plan, #4 is supposed to slot into 2025, but this is my backup option), I’m still doing okay. I don’t have to write 3-4 books again this year. Relieving that pressure is probably the only way I will get anything done eventually.

Tricking our brains to be productive is very irritating, though apparently necessary.

Filed Under: blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

In Memory of Gus

Become a Patron!

Buy My Books

Kobo | Kindle | Smashwords (or try here | iBooks | Payhip | Find Paperbacks & Hardcovers at Amazon
Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Books in Progress

40000 / 65000 words. 61% done!
Demon Fall

113233 / 113233 words. 100% done!
Beneath the Pines

20000 / 100000 words. 20% done!
These Haunted Woods

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Recent Comments

  • Buy Your Paperbacks Directly From Me – Michael W Lucas on It’s Done
  • CRussel on Torching Kindle (and Probably My Career, YOLO)
  • Anna Blake on Torching Kindle (and Probably My Career, YOLO)
  • Martha Hubbard on Torching Kindle (and Probably My Career, YOLO)
  • Paula on Audiobook (Initial) Release: DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD
  • Skyla Dawn Cameron on Audiobook (Initial) Release: DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD
  • Melissa Hayden on Audiobook (Initial) Release: DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD
  • Anna Blake on Nothing to Say (That Isn’t Incoherent Screaming)
  • Skyla Dawn Cameron on Soundtrack Sunday – THE TAIGA RIDGE MURDERS
  • Kerry on Soundtrack Sunday – THE TAIGA RIDGE MURDERS

MEET SKYLA DAWN

Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror.
Fifth-generation crazy cat lady. Bitchy feminist.
So tired all the goddamn time.

My characters kill people so I don’t have to.

read more

Become a Patron!

Socials

  • Amazon
  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Etsy
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Twitter

What I’m Working On:

Writing Elis 5. Also kind of sort of writing Waverly 8.

I'm not inclined to resign to maturity.