It begins with a B and has more than five letters.

The word is BURNOUT. My little dictionary says burnout is a verb: Melt, break, or become otherwise unusable

I think at one time or another most writers have or will suffer from burnout. It’s inevitable. We’re creative people trying to make it in a business. We have lives outside of writing that need our attention, husbands, children, pets, yards, family illnesses and emergencies. And on top of that, we’re querying, we’re writing, we’re sending out, we’re promoting (if you’ve sold) and after a while it renders you…unusable. It wears you down.

You reach a point where you go ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!! I QUIT!!! NO MORE!!!!

Then what do you do? Do you hang it up and walk away? How do you regroup? Or have you managed to find the secret of avoiding burnout all together?

So ya’ll remember Tanya’s Post on Book Trailers? Right….well, apparently we had a very special guest stop by to comment, except not only did she end up in moderation (which I get an approve immediately) she ended up on the Akismet Spam folder (which I check like twice a month). I immediately emailed Sheila (that would be Sheila English of COS Productions) and apologized profusely!!!! And told her I’d post her comment because it was so interesting.
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Thanks so much for the invitation to hang out here today! I’ll begin by telling you a bit about myself. I’m a dark person. When I was born the nurse said, “This baby has a dark soul.” Well, I’m sure she at least thought it. ;)

I find foreboding in everything. Old buildings. New buildings. Bridges. An open field. A weedy pasture. A grove of trees. A quiet street. Anything and everything seems sinister to me. Small towns can be particularly secretive while at the same time seductive. On the surface they can look quaint and welcoming, but underneath they resent newcomers and change. Nature is the same way. Beautiful and inviting, but dangerous and secretive. I decided to tap into those personal anxieties while writing Pale Immortal and Garden of Darkness – books I think of as basically one long story that I call the Tuonela books.
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The fabulous Anne Frasier will be with us this Wednesday! I’m going to cheat a bit a swipe the intro off her web-site, because it says it all, except that she’s a favourite author of mine with several books on my keeper shelf.  Make sure you drop by on Wednesday, she’s got a kick arse post loaded with lots of goodies for ya!

 Anne Frasier’s novels have spanned the genres of mystery, thriller, paranormal, science fiction, and horror.  Garden of Darkness continues a dark tale started in Pale Immortal of a spooky Wisconsin town.  In Before I Wake, a secret government medical experiment goes wrong.  Play Dead plays out amid the voodoo scene in Savannah, Georgia. Sleep Tight, a traditional police procedural, is set in Minneapolis.    Publishers Weekly says Frasier “has perfected the art of making a reader’s skin crawl.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune calls her a “master.” This award-winning, USA Today bestselling author has been published since 1988, and her books have been printed in over a dozen languages in hardcover, trade, and paperback.
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Bear with me for a sec. My girlfriend sent me the following ‘inspirational’ message—Eight Lies of My Mother– in an email last week (this isn’t the exact email that she sent to my office, but I found a very, very, very, sappy, long version of it online which I cut it cut down and revised for this post) :

Whenever the time came for eating, mother often gave me her portion of rice. While she was removing her rice into my bowl, she would say “Eat this rice, son. I’m not hungry”.
That was Mother’s First Lie

And While I ate the meat of the fish, she would eat what was left on the bone. When I tried used my chopstick to give her some of my fish, she refused it and said “Eat this fish, son. I don’t really like fish.”
That was Mother’s Second Lie.

To make extra money, mother packed used match- boxes. I woke up from my sleep and looked at my mother who was still awake, working by candlelight, I said, “Mother, go to sleep, it’s late, tomorrow morning you still have to go for work.” Mother smiled and said “Go to sleep, dear. I’m not tired.”
That was Mother’s Third Lie.

While I took my exams mother waited for me under the heat of the sun for several hours. When the test was over, mother welcomed me and poured me a glass of tea. Seeing my mother covering with perspiration, I gave her my glass and asked her to drink too. Mother said “Drink, son. I’m not thirsty!”.
That was Mother’s Fourth Lie.

After I had finished my study and got a job, it was the time for my old mother to retire. I, who worked in America and make an excellent salary, sent her some money to help her in fulfilling her needs, but sent the money back to me. She said “I have enough money.”
That was Mother’s Sixth Lie.

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If you popped over to Sybil’s then you know we posted our 12 Hunks of Christmas Candy.

Now I have to tell you since there are six of us, that meant we could only pick two each! YIKES! TWO HUNKS. ONLY TWO. NO MORE! That means a few ended up on the cutting room floor. My Christmas present to you is….some of my fave hunks that didn’t make the cut…

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Merry Christmas to all! I’ve got a Christmas question for you. I ask this every year and I’m always surprised by some of the responses I get. Okay, here goes. Remember the movie A Christmas Carol? Well, which of the three ghosts would you rather meet? Christmas Past, Christmas Present or Christmas future?

While you ponder that, here are my holiday gifts to you:

1. A great Christmas Test!

2. Try your hand at some Christmas Trivia!

3. Visit Santa’s Secret Village.

4. Match the two Christmas trees.

5. Speaking of a Christmas Carol, here’s one of my favorite moments from the movie:

Yes! The correct answer was 10! You guys are right on.

I had my son draw the name out of his very own hat and KIM is the winner! Yay, Kim! :)

Email me your snail mail address to: michelle at michellemiles dot net. I’ll mail your gift card tomorrow!

Congrats

Hey I’m over at the Samhain blog today! Come by and read How I Became A Writer here. :)

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