I’ll admit, I’m starting to burn out. Trying to write a short entry every week gets challenging the more and more you write. You’ve got to make sure the story isn’t too similar to an older entry. Otherwise, I may as well revise the old one and post that.
To put it in perspective, imagine how difficult it’ll get once we reach Station 100. Station 200. Station 400… How about Station 1000?! (Although let’s be honest, how likely is it that we’ll both be on this site in 20 years?)
Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve yet to reach Station 18 (pretty soon). Burning out now would be premature.
Since it’s summer up here in the northern hemisphere (or down here, depending on your perspective), I’ve had the leisure to think of many story prompts. It’s a matter of getting bogged down in the details once I sit down to write them, halting progress on the story. I suppose that’s one skill I should aim to improve upon with this experiment; being able to sit down and just write, write, write (like what I’m doing now), before I start editing and proofing.
With it being summertime, I’ve picked up new responsibilities that demand my attention. Add on the other tasks I’ve been preparing for, such as building a new computer, this may as well be like the start of a new semester; the first transition period I’ve had since the start of this experiment in February. When I was gearing up for this project, I waited until the transitional period had passed already. Now that the experiment is up and running, such an option is no longer available.
But I suppose this is fine. I’m still giving you a narrative. Though I shouldn’t do this too often. I personally don’t like writing or speaking about my personal struggles as I don’t think anyone needs another negative narrative to read in this day and age (as if looking out for yourself isn’t already hard enough).
But at the same time, it wouldn’t be true to self if I said everything is perfectly fine; that writing these stories is easy. Yes, I do have weeks where I’m able to start writing about one idea and drive it home in one sitting. However, I consider them to be rare exceptions. Not every week will work out perfectly like that. And a perfect character is an unrelatable one.
I’m sure some of you can relate. And I’m pretty sure everyone will be able to relate if we broaden this beyond writing and to burnout in general. I suspect this won’t be the last time I write about this subject.
Thankfully, I’m a stubborn drum. Even though I’ve been beating down this project, I still aim to post every week for as long as I can. If I take up writing as a profession, maybe then I’ll start cutting back. Or incorporate (if I can) my work onto here. Until that day arrives, we keep on moving forward.