Burnout in Publishing

I try to write about what’s pressingly on my mind each week, hence the name of the newsletter: Dear Head of Mine. However, as I sat down to write about burnout, this topic seems somewhat self-defeating to tap out a treatise on. Suffice it to say, publishing is a nine-car-pileup business, and it’s definitely come for me these past weeks and months. My one observation about this much discussed phenomenon is that it’s not the first “oh my god how is there possibly enough time to get everything done” week that gets you. It’s having months of those kinds of weeks where you throw nights and weekends and early mornings at the problem, and still seem to be stumbling in the desert toward the same mirage.

At a certain point, and this no doubt happens in all kinds of professions, it’s just plain overload. The accumulation of full-out sprints. Mentally, you can push yourself to keep running at top speed but eventually your (metaphorical) muscles give out. Time-intensive projects that require a lot of focus (editing) and a mountain of ticky-tac administration that never seems to dwindle (email, scheduling, meetings, etc., etc.) compound over time to the point where your capacity to “dig deep” and muster those long hours and wartime focus eventually dissipates. Maybe the term burnout shouldn’t even have the word “burn” in it, as it’s more of the “out” that matters. Perhaps it should be known as “the big freeze.” The leg-buckling point where you just have to recover before you can continue. On that note, I’m going to take a one-week hiatus for the first time in 60+ weeks and there will be no Dear Head of Mine next Thursday.

All work and no play…

In the midst of overload somehow the strangest tasks seem to get done, and for me that’s meant starting a Goodreads account for the newsletter. Here you will find most of the books discussed and reviewed over the last year (and now rated!). Consider following DHM there— link below— to find your next book to read or it may help you rediscover some old newsletters you may have missed. As always, thanks for reading this when you could be reading a book instead.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/175458457-dhm