The Cure for Creative Apathy

Are you spending hours staring at a blinking cursor? Does writing a single line of dialogue seem like a Herculean effort? You might be experiencing creative apathy. In a previous post, I wrote about Resistance; what it is, and how to live with it. But what if you’re losing the fight against Resistance? What do you do if you’re stuck in a creative rut and feel like you can’t get out?

Even the most successful and prolific writers go through bouts of inactivity due to stress, burnout, sickness, romantic troubles, professional setbacks, or just good ol’ depression, and we all have our own ways of coping. I used to try to force myself out of these funks with a surge of grit and willpower. “I didn’t write at all this week, so I'm not going to leave this chair until I write three scenes!”

The problem with this approach is that it piles even more pressure on top of us when we’re already feeling strained. This type of resolve to stand up to the pressure may seem admirable, but it’s like planting your feet in the sand while a massive wave crashes towards you; even if you withstand it, you won’t do so without taking damage. Luckily, I’ve found that there’s actually a simple thing you can do to survive these low periods:

Nothing.

A strong person sees the wave coming and tries to stand in its way, but a smart person dives into the wave and comes up whole on the other side. That’s what we must do when we see the big wave of writer’s block, burnout, or depression coming: dive into it. Accept it. Acknowledge that you’re in a funk and give yourself permission to rest.

There are times when I feel particularly apathetic, and the thought of writing is so daunting that I'd sooner peel off my own skin than open up Final Draft. In these moments, I take an intentional rest day where I only do things that fill my bucket. I’ll watch movies, read, clean up at home, eat some vanilla ice cream with chunky peanut butter  – whatever makes me feel good and recharges my batteries. By allowing myself to think about anything other than my work, my brain actually starts to relax, and I usually feel like I have enough energy the next day to get back to writing.

You might not have this luxury. Even if you have a day off work, you might have kids or parents to take care of. But taking a rest day isn’t about sitting around in your underwear eating junk food and playing video games all day (although that does sound pretty awesome). It’s about taking a break from whatever you’re struggling with creatively and diverting your mental energy into the slow lane for a little while to let some of the congestion and traffic clear. 

When you do get back to work, start small. Rather than setting a goal to finish a screenplay in three months, try writing a single page per day. Research shows that creating small changes to your daily habits may be more successful than doggedly pursuing one large goal. And hey, if you do write one page a day for three months, you’ll have around ninety pages to show for it, which is close enough to a full screenplay that you’ll likely feel energized to get across the finish line anyway.

Consistency, perseverance, and hitting deadlines are all important, but so is recognizing when a break is needed. The most prolific factory in the world can’t continue to function if its parts are breaking down from over-use, and your brain is no different. Your body will tell you when it's overworked if you know what to listen for. I believe in hard work, but I also believe that we should take care of ourselves with the same enthusiasm. 

Work hard, care hard. That’s my new motto. Maybe I should get t-shirts made…

Anyway, take care yourselves, and happy writing.