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Blog Briefs: On Burnout, with Sue Isle

In which a bunch of authors & editors are invited to answer the question: How do you deal with creative exhaustion?

Modest in nature, but powerful in her writing, Sue Isle provides a marvellous call to arms for the thinking writer.

Creative exhaustion is first cousin to writer’s block.  First off, I try to accept that when it hits, I am not wasting time, but preparing myself to return to work. I blog more.  I do something different, like answering this question.  If I can’t force myself to finish a story, then perhaps it was not worth finishing.  If I have to push rather than let it flow, it won’t be as good as if I take more time, mess around in the garden and try to shove the guilt deep into the compost pile.  I am still a writer so long as I am thinking!

I live and write in Perth, where I plan my city’s complete destruction to amuse myself, as featured in my recent collection Nightsiders