At some point, every writer reaches a point of nothingness. Despite how hard you try, you feel devoid and empty of anything worthy to write about. I've been talking about this a lot lately, I know. But sometimes I think it's important to stop, breathe, and just "be" for a moment while thinking on these things.

5 Signs You Might Be Writing Too Much

So how do you know if you're writing too much? Maybe you think there's no such thing as writing too much. Let's take a look at some signs of wear that could point to writer burnout. See if you find yourself in any (or all) of these...

1) You wake up every morning feeling drained.

One sure sign of burnout in any form is waking up feeling just as tired as you did when you went to bed the night before. At first you might blame your lack of rest on your bad mattress or your partner's poor sleeping manners. But if you've been burning the writing oil from both ends lately, you might benefit from taking a look at your writing schedule and revamp it to make it work for you.

2) You avoid the computer as long as possible.

If you're a freelance writer and work from home to earn your own income, you know how important it is to show up regardless. If you are finding it more and more difficult to even look at the computer, let alone sit down and open your word processor to write, you might consider taking a break.

3) You don't enjoy reading anymore.

Reading is an intricate part of every writer's life. You learn by reading. You get ideas by reading. You escape by reading. If reading doesn't appeal to you any longer, you probably need a break from writing.

4) You offer your baby-sitting services to the entire neighborhood.

Anything to escape from writing, right? If you find yourself getting roped into anything, just to give yourself an excuse not to write....yep, it's probably break time.

5) You're having recurring writing-related nightmares.

This might sound funny, but burned out writers often experience dreaded writing nightmares. Novels with no completion. Clients harassing you. Agents dumping you. If you've been having bad writing dreams, you might need to take a little break from writing.

By no means am I advocating that you should stop writing altogether. But sometimes we need to take a break and get out into the "real world" where we can experience adventures that we can pull inspiration from for our writing later. Live your life to its fullest and you'll rarely be devoid of writing inspiration.

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