Why Obsessing Over Writing Craft and Profit Can Steal the Joy from Your Blog

Stepping Back to Move Forward: Lessons from My Blogging Burnout

The Slippery Slope of Writing for Profit

The line between dedication to my craft and obsession is one I do my best not to cross. I am human, however, and as such am not perfect. My passion for writing and this blog often gets the better of me. When I started doing this, I did so with the misguided motivation of making a quick buck. I was desperate to escape my living situation, one I still haven’t escaped. Being the impulsive and desperate person I was, I dove headlong into every tip, trick, and trend that promised a profit or exposure. I downloaded keyword plugins, created an Amazon Associates account and plastered affiliate links all over my articles, and dove straight into applying for Google AdSense, something that I haven’t successfully attained as of this writing. In my haste, I was certain that if I honed my craft enough and optimized my posts based on whatever the trends were, success would eventually follow. I write today to show how wrong I was and what has transpired since.

When Craft Becomes a Chore

It wasn’t long before the pressure, mostly self-imposed, mounted. I dissected every word, every sentence I wrote. What started as a labor of love based on a passion for words became an obsession with keywords and conversion rates. What used to be a passion that I wanted to turn into my life’s work became a relentless grind that turned into one big rut. I was more concerned about algorithms, sitemaps, and Google search trends than my writing. The goal is always the same, financial freedom and the ability to do what I love while achieving it. The result of my love of writing devolving into an obsession with following trends and making money was predictable. My content suffered. Not only did the words not come easily, but the words that came were subject to more scrutiny from my internal editor than usual. One memorable example of this was during my first ill-fated blogging attempt. I was so desperate to get something out that I published an article that wouldn’t make it past the cutting room floor for this blog, and I published a handful of such blog posts. Safe to say I fell on the wrong side of the quality vs. quantity argument. My posts had lost their soul, and I was slowly losing my artistic identity.

The Onset of Burnout

Self-doubt and Impostor Syndrome: The Silent Motivation Killer

At first, burnout was a silent guest in my subconscious, only poking at me periodically. It started as a decreased desire to sit down and write. Soon enough, however, it made its presence known in the form of missed deadlines, weeks or even months between content updates, and very little interest in the craft I once loved. The blank page would taunt me until I closed the laptop and walked away, letting another day go by with no progress. Those days would turn into weeks, sometimes weeks would turn into months. The only way to stop the spiral was to take a step back and try to remember why I was doing this.

Undue Pressure to Escape

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t desperate to escape my current living situation. I thought writing would be my way to do that. I always had a talent for it, or at least that’s what everyone told me. So it should be easy for me to make money at it, right? It turned out that, in my haste to escape a living situation I didn’t want to be in, I neglected one of the most important rules of blogging and freelance writing, building your audience, which takes time. This realization also led to me realizing that perhaps I’d lost sight of why I started writing—and later blogging—in the first place.

Before and After: Changes That Helped the Process

The creation of this blog was the first and most obvious change I made to my process. I thought a new start on a new platform with a clearer idea of what I was doing, what my message was, and how to get that message to more people would be a good place to begin my professional rebrand, if you will. I went from unknowingly trying to profit from my disability under the guise of raising awareness to focusing on my true passion: writing. The rebrand wasn’t the last step though. As always in these situations, one realization leads to another.

Even after reinventing my blogging strategy and rebranding myself, I still struggled with traffic. I was largely unfamiliar with such things as Google Search Console and crawlability of websites. Once I became familiar with these concepts, I could make my content more visible. I’m still working on that part of the process as I write these words, but even slow progress is still progress, as long as it’s for the right reasons.

Writing for the Wrong Reasons

Looking back, I realize it took me longer than it should have to realize I was doing everything wrong. Worst of all, I was doing it for the wrong reasons. When you become hyper-focused on mastering your chosen craft and the prospect of financial freedom, you forget about the most important things in all of this, your audience and yourself. This happened to me a few months back, and it cost me some valuable writing time and chances to build an audience. My words were hollow if they came at all. The passion that once coursed through me was no longer there. The computer screen in front of which I now write this became a source of torment rather than excitement and satisfaction. Truth be told, at least in my experience, writing is as much about rest as it is about effort. The best parts of creativity need time to breathe. The creative juices need time to refill. You wouldn’t use a remote with a dead battery, would you? The same concept applies to creative energy. One in a while, you need time to recharge.

When I started my first blog, I was desperate to see a profit. I was posting whatever I thought would make people want to read—misguided as my thoughts were on that score—and as I found out, the wrong posts for what I wanted to do. I didn’t really know what I wanted. I knew nothing about the purpose of blogging beyond putting whatever you want on a website and hoping someone will read it. I did not know what my content could do for someone. There wasn’t anything in the beginning. I outlined this in detail in an earlier post on this blog which I will leave here in case you want to refer to it. After a while, I felt it was best to take a step back and reevaluate my situation and what I wanted to do.

The Power of Stepping Back 

Creativity needs room to breathe from time to time. In a fairly recent post, which I will link here if you want to check it out, I shared what happened when I took a week away from writing. As hard as it was to do at first, it ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for both my personal and creative health. I found myself losing sleep, not being present for family and friends, and just being in a sour mood in general because I didn’t feel like my blogging journey was going the way I planned. Disconnecting from the constant pressure to produce gave my mind the rest it so desperately needed. I spent a lot of that time reading. The importance of reading for writers, no matter what you write, cannot be overstated. When I’m feeling blocked, I often return to my copy of Stephen King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I draw a lot of my inspiration from King and his story, so his take on the craft is helpful to revisit from time to time. I also read a lot of his short stories when I’m blocked. One of my favorite collections just is his latest one, “You Like it Darker.” One story in particular, “Danny Caughlin’s Bad Dream,” is one that I think ranks among his best. If you haven’t read it, I recommend you do. I won’t spoil it. I also do a lot of journaling and other stream of consciousness writing when I”m not feeling like myself creatively. I allowed myself to put words on the page without worrying about structure or if anything made sense left my mind clear. Any thoughts left lingering in my head that could cloud my judgment were left on the page, leaving me with a clear head and a renewed urge to create. I also play video games, particularly roleplaying games. These types of games are great for fostering creativity. Some games even have dedicated servers for those who want to focus on roleplaying and their character’s story. Not only did gaming help me clear my mind, it gave me a new perspective on character, both fictional characters and my character. I returned to the keyboard ten days later with renewed energy, fresh ideas, and most importantly, a renewed sense of joy for the craft I hadn’t felt in months. One of those fresh ideas, oddly enough, produced this article. I also started kicking around an idea for a series of detective novels. I always thought that if I would have been physically able to do it, I would have been a cop. I’ve always held a strong interest in police work and criminal justice in general. I find myself reading and watching true crime content when I’m not writing. What better way to combine that with my love of writing than to write crime fiction, right? All that came with the mental clarity that came with a little time away.

Rest: The Unsung Hero of Creativity

If you find yourself caught in a cycle of constant productivity and perfectionism, risking your mental health and all around wellbeing, I urge you to pause. I’ll use myself as a specific example. Before I wrote my article detailing my week without writing, I was stuck. I was sitting at my desk, staring at the incessantly blinking cursor, and wondering if I should just give this up altogether. Deep down, I knew writing  Step back. Remember why you started. Let yourself rest, even if it feels counterintuitive—and it often does. Your writing—and by extension, your readers will thank you for it.

Rediscovering Joy in the Journey

At its core, success in blogging isn’t about mastering the craft or making money. It’s about sharing a part of yourself, something real. I started blogging to connect with others and find fulfillment in the connections and the personal journey. Sometimes it’s more productive in the long run to let go of writing and let yourself breathe. As I said in a previous article, a break is sometimes the best way to rediscover the joy in the craft. Absence, after all, makes the heart go fonder. So if you are struggling with your craft, if the words don’t feel right or aren’t coming at all, I urge you to take a step back. Scribble some random thoughts in a journal. Relax with a good book. Anything that will get you away and clear your head will help in the long run.

Final Thoughts

What do you do when the pursuit of your passion becomes a never-ending quest for profit? How do you unwind when your work has you mentally exhausted? Do you relax with a good book? Spend some time outside? Perhaps journaling is more your style. Do you reevaluate your intentions and the evolution of your craft? Do you catch yourself focusing on dollar signs and following trends? How do you break yourself of those habits and rediscover the creative fire that put you on the path to writing in the first place? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below or drop me an email. I’d love to have a conversation with you.