Take Time Out.

Timeout

I't's no wonder insurance companies
often place writers in their high risk
categories. Writers are always on the
job--watching and noting everyone and
everything, plotting and planning the
next article, the next novel.

We may find it fun, always whizzing
through life, brain 100% alert. But very
few of us can survive solely as writers.
Add in the day job, the family and
friends, the everyday commitments and
sooner or later you're running on empty.

If you're a freelancer, reliant for some or
all of your income from writing, then the
pressures are all the more stressful.

Writing is stress.

Burnout

Do you fine yourself sitting at the
keyboard longer and longer and
achieving less and less?

Are you snappy with friends and family,
always wanting to be left alone with your
work?

Are you off your food, eating erratically,
drinking more? Unusual behavioral patterns could signify
that it's time to take stock.

The signs of burnout can be confusing
and contradictory: undereating or
overeating, insomnia or oversleeping,
chronic fatigue or brain chronically
overactive.

    Writers often suffer panic attacks and
feelings of failure, or find that they
haven't two ideas to rub together.

Time Out

The hardest thing is to force yourself to
rest, to be nice to yourself.  But an hour
or two pampering yourself, taking a long
scented bath might well double your
productivity later.

A visit to an art gallery, a theater or
giving yourself permission to read a great
book--and not one about writing--could
make you feel you've had a real holiday.

l swear by brewer's yeast, high in iron and B vitamins.
Stretching exercises relieve muscles tired from sitting pounding computer keys.

Schedule some quality time to  yourself each week and see your productivity increase.
 Anne Duguid is a senior content editor with MuseItUp Publishing and   her New Year's Resolution is to blog with helpful writing,editing and publishing tips at Slow and Steady Writers far more regularly than she managed in 2011.