3 Ways to Avoid Burnout

My secret sauce delivered to you in a few different formats

As Substack evolves, I’d like to share a few ways to avoid burnout. These are easy-to-learn habits that can be incorporated into any writer’s toolkit.

Today, a shortish long-form story based on three Notes I wrote this week, 3 ways you can avoid burnout while boosting your storytelling power and building healthier writing habits, and finally, a Shadow segment.

Finding Nature in the Urban Jungle

Those sparrows I mention are perched on the second tree from the right.

We headed out despite the gloom.

It was the kind of morning where, when I was younger, I’d grab the New York Times from outside my apartment door, put up the pot of coffee, and not leave the house.

But I’m older now, grown into myself, and I have new routines. The New York Times is no longer being delivered here, and it’s definitely not my primary source of news. Also, I get up much earlier to write before joining the pup for his morning walk.

The streets were nearly empty when we stepped outside. The fields above Riverside Drive were missing the usual crowd of dog walkers.

That meant that as we walked down the steps of the Firemen’s Memorial, we could be less cautious about potential confrontations with other dogs. There are too many dogs in the city to sustain the necessary boundaries. We know we are part of the problem. My dog should have been raised on a farm or some place where he could run around.

Me, too.

Instead, we go out every morning, seeking some semblance of the natural world.

Today, the impending storm had turned the sky a murky gray, somewhat foreboding, but it couldn’t hide the wildlife stationed across the street in silhouette.

There’s something about how Mother Nature turns day into night with these shifts in weather that continues to amaze me. The lighting presents so many different ways of looking at the world around me.

Hours later, I couldn’t stop thinking about those sparrows’ resilience. The wind was picking up, it was cold, and yet they hung on as the trees in the park began to sway. Spotting them from hundreds of feet away, their features obscured by the changing skies, was the morning’s gift to us.

A few minutes later, we were back inside, Shadow having had enough of the elements. Despite his willingness to let me stand as still as possible and take dozens of pictures of the same thing at a time, he does not display the fortitude of those birds swaying in the coming storm.

One drop of water, one leaf, and a fence

One time, I took a hundred pictures of a drop of water coming out of the faucet of my bathroom sink.

At the time, I was participating in a photography group that shot pictures in response to a word prompt and posted them with a tag associated with the project.

I was trying to catch that single drop of water the way I was seeing it in my head (using my iPhone camera). I never quite got it, but I tried hard as hell to do so.

Similarly, all Fall, I’ve been waiting to somehow capture a single leaf falling from a tree. I’d stand there and wait, and if I saw one mid-air, I’d whip out my phone.

But until the other day, I was too slow.

Then, walking in one of the fields above Riverside Drive, I spotted a leaf out of the corner of my eye and pulled out my phone. Instead of a photo, I decided to shoot a video of it.

Once I got the one leaf, I continued to video the scene. Soon it became something of a symphony of leaves and birds swirling around above and around me.

Double happiness!

And the whole time I was shooting, Shadow stood peacefully by my side.

As we headed home, the symphony continued with some sparrows happily chirping in some bare branches lining the fence to Upper Riverside Drive. Nearly every time I walk by there, I remember the small flock of cardinals I photographed in 2021. I also posted it as part of that photo group,

I decided to take a quick video of those birds, actually shooting without seeing them for sure, just hearing them. As I was filming, I spotted a man walking uptown on the street beyond the fence. It seemed a good counterpoint. Nature, man. Man, Nature.

It was only after I got home and watched the video a few times that I realized this: At the same time that the man was walking uptown at a clip, a squirrel was running along the fence in the opposite direction.

Amusing!

And I had forgotten that, at that moment while filming, I thought I had seen the man’s head turned toward me. That was too bad, I thought. I had not meant to include him in this, but there he was, almost indistinguishable behind the dried branches and the fence.

But when I looked at the video again, he seemed to be filming me!

Man, Nature, coincidence, intentionality. There are always forces in contradiction to one another. That can be a good source of inspiration. It seems to be a constant well from which I drink.

And I’m grateful every day to do so. Even here in the Urban Jungle.

How do you experience Nature where you live? How important is it to you? What role does it play in your writing?

3 ways to grab my secret sauce!

Here are a few ways you can build the skills and develop healthier writing habits to become a better storyteller.

None of this is meant to replace your current process, but to add some simple habits to your workflow.

1. Notes2Post Toolkit

The toolkit version of the 4-week Notes2Post course was created to streamline the process for incorporating photos into your writing workflow, build better habits, and write more effectively.

This is an easy-to-use, skills-building, self-guided way to include Notes2Post tools and techniques into your writing kit. Build up or improve the accessibility of your digital photo library, target images for specific purposes, craft three Notes on a related theme based on three photos, and draft, edit, and publish your long-form story based on those Notes.

The toolkit comes with the complete set of job aids (worksheets and checklists) delivered with the full-length course.

Available now for download, and from now until Christmas, get $50 off the list price.

2. The Writers Inspired by the Arts community (WIA)

Starting January 8, write in companionship with and with the support of people who share a passion for the visual or other arts. If you incorporate photography, painting, or other visual or performing arts into your writing toolkit, please join us.

If you’d like to start doing this, join us.

This community will meet every two weeks for 1.5-hour sessions and will be treated to guest speakers whose work is informed by the visual or performing arts. We have a great line-up of speakers to kick off the new year.

Membership is $100 for the year or free with a paid subscription to the Bite-Sized Storytelling Boost.

3. Storytelling Power Booster Workshop

This 60-minute virtual workshop was created to help you practice the basic Notes2Post skills:

• Targeting photos for specific purposes

• Drafting short-form stories

• Creating a robust photo library of images to use in the future

The workshop takes place on December 18 at 11:30 am EST and is discounted until December 12. Code included in the link.

Please DM me with any questions about these opportunities for you to add to your toolkit!

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The Shadow Feature

When my daughter was away recently, I offered Shadow an afternoon walk. He took me to the pet store! “Yes, one of those, please!” Sometimes, we go by his agenda, sometimes mine.