Writer's Fatigue

Right now I am suffering from two different kinds of fatigue. 

The first kind is fatigue in the normal sense, the overall tiredness resulting from sleepless nights, late hours, ungodly hours and probably just poor health. It's the kind of tired where you just want to lie on a couch all day, watching bad shows, reading books and taking the frequent, long, long nap. 

The second fatigue, is writers fatigue. The kind where I just can't tell anymore if I'm doing the right thing with my story, the kind where I dread just working on it, the kind where I get distracted a lot and just don't see it happening anymore.

I strongly suspect that the two are connected in some vicious circle of not sleeping because I have doubts and worries about my writing, and my lack of sleep causes me to be more grumpy and tired and crappy during the day--which then again affects my writing, which will probably result in sleeping poorly. 

.... Sucks right? 

I know I'm not the only one with writer's fatigue. Probably every writer comes across this during either her writing (when it's probably called writers block) or during her editing (like in my case). 

The thing is, my story probably isn't that bad. It might even be good. Maybe every painful edit I make, actually improves the story. Maybe it's going in the best direction possible, and I just need to hurry up and get it done.

I--and most writers--am probably just making things very hard for myself. 

Here are some solutions I'm going to try out (from the top of my head... and it's very early so forgive me if they don't make sense):

- set a quota. Either x pages a day or x pages a week. 

- reward yourself at the end of the week, if you make it. A nice cup of tea, a good movie etc.

- alternate editing with writing on a new story, the next instalment if it's a series, or just short random stories.

- Set an end goal when you want to be finished, try to think of it as an official goal that your editors set you (if you have editors, remind yourself how lucky you are)

- from time to time pat yourself on the shoulder for having accomplished something amazing already: you finished a novel! You have a first draft, or second, or maybe you're still writing it--but the fact that you started and continued is already awe inspiring for some people!

-Talk to people about your book (real or imaginary). Get excited again. You love this story, you're probably just too close to it :)

I have to go get ready for school now (this post is officially last night's, but I didn't have time then T.T there goes my record haha) 

I'm really hoping these ideas will help me and maybe any of you who have the same problem. Any other tips or tricks are welcome! Leave a comment! :)

Keep Writing!

Xx Noortje