Camp NaNo April 2022: Week 3

Burnout

It's easy to forget that anything creative can also be classified as work. You might be spending your free time creating, but ultimately, it is still just work.

As a stay-at-home mama, I get it. I'm working around the clock for the kiddos, my cute little bosses. I'm making meals, cleaning, and making sure the house survives hurricane kiddos. To top it all off, I'm also doing creative work in my "me" time.

Suffice it to say, burnout happens easier than my pre-kiddo years. My motivation goes out the window and exhaustion takes over. It's a sort of exhaustion that can easily lead to depression. You get very sad when you can't do the creative things you want to do! AGH!

"WHAT?! Really?"

"Yes."

"But, it's your passion!"

"Doesn't matter. When you're overworked, you just don't want to work."

Building Motivation and Relaxation

This week, I had a light burnout. I worked a bit on my story, but most of the time I found myself playing Sims. I can easily spend days in Sims and justify it as research. Hear me out, but I get a lot of inspiration from these games.

I create characters, story lines, sets, and watch everything play out while creating dialogue and a plot in my head. I get so involved that I'll actively kill a sim to suit the plot of the story. No sim is safe from me. The best games are when I actually write down the story idea for a future nano project.

One year, I created a couple of sims videos following a girl named Reimi. She could see the Grim Reaper and everyone thought she was crazy. When her brother confronts her about running away they have an argument.

Later, after running away, Reimi starts to have dreams about the day she ran away. She recalls them as haunting. In another part of the world, a cult panics when Daemon enters a pact with a boy because it could only mean he's after the Ghost Gem. In the end of the videos, Reimi's best friend promises to save her life after hearing that she is destined to die.

I never finished the videos but I did create a nano project for it. One of these days, I'll go back to it because the story is still playing out in my head after all of these years.

OMG I found the Videos! LOL

My current Sims story..."Call Me Cupid"

It's fun to revisit old stories. It's like opening an old photo album of nostalgia. It's also fun to create new stories even when burnout occurs. This is why I like The Sims. It gives me the chance to be creative without the pressure of creating something for everyone. It's all just for me. A proper "me" time.

My current story follows a spellcaster, Brice. He ran away from home when he was a teenager because his grandfather couldn't understand his gift, and Brice couldn't understand his grandfather's mental instabilities. After years of digging in the dumpsters, Brice finally manages to find his clique in the Magic Realm, and learns how to use his magic for his own gain.

He initially makes a good living repairing thrown away things with his magic and selling them off. Then, he discovers potions and he evolves his business to become "Cupid". He starts selling love potions. After selling so many potions, he realizes how alone his is. His success in love potions makes him crave affection and goes on the search for "true love" what ever that means.

Haha! All in good fun.

Anyway...

The Sims is just one way for me to recover from burnout. I also play other games and create stories in my head. It's fun to see other worlds and think about characters and how they might react. Unlike the Sims, I've never written out those stories though. Fan fiction has never been my thing...especially since the fiction I've been exposed to seems to have some explicit themes. Hmm.... but to each their own, right? Maybe I just need to have a glass of wine when I read them. Haha!

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Woo! You made it through my post! Thank you for reading it and I hope you had a good laugh from time to time. Let me know if you enjoyed my, er, distractions this camp nano week! Also, don't forget to take frequent breaks. Creating is a job even if you're just volunteering to work at it. I'll see you tomorrow! Wink!