Spring Fever

Avoiding burnout and finding the time to write when we want to play

Photo by Sora Sagano on Unsplash

I am STRUGGLING to sit down and write these days. It’s not because I don’t have ideas or don’t want to write. Heck, I even have a book that has over 50,000 words in it that I could probably finish writing over a weekend if I set my mind to it. Okay, maybe two weekends.

But, I’m suffering from wicked Spring Fever. It’s finally beautiful outside, I’m burnt out from a very productive 1st quarter, and the last way I want to spend my free time is at my computer.

Sound familiar?

If you’ve got a half-finished book sitting in a folder on your desktop — one that you swear you’re going to finish “soon” — spring is basically a villain. The birds are chirping, the neighbors are outside doing something that looks suspiciously fun, and your manuscript is just... sitting there. Judging you.

Here’s the thing though: you don’t have to choose between enjoying spring AND making progress on your book. You just have to get a little strategic about it. These are the tricks I’m using to keep my own writing moving — even when every cell in my body wants to be literally anywhere else.

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1. Lower the Bar (Way Lower Than Feels Comfortable)

When motivation is high, it’s easy to set ambitious daily word count goals. But spring is not that season. Insisting on 2,000 words a day when your brain is basically a golden retriever spotting a squirrel is a recipe for skipping writing entirely.

Instead, pick a number so small it almost feels embarrassing. 200 words. Maybe 300. That’s one good paragraph — or three mediocre ones you’ll fix later. Dallas Woodburn challenges authors to even set a goal of 100 words a day, which often leads to far more. (Listen to our podcast episode here on this topic!)

Here’s what happens: you sit down, hit your tiny goal in 15 minutes, and then often just... keep going. Because starting is always the hardest part. The goal isn’t the word count. The goal is to sit down.

Your book doesn’t care how you got to the finish line.

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2. Write Outside (Yes, Actually)

This sounds obvious, but most writers never try it. Take your laptop — or even just a notebook — and go sit outside. Your porch, a park bench, a coffee shop patio. Anywhere with fresh air counts. I have been doing this lately! We’re in the small window of time we get in South Carolina before it gets ridiculously hot. I love listening to the birds as I write!

You stop fighting spring fever the moment you stop making it your enemy. You’re not trapped inside while the world looks beautiful. You ARE outside. Writing your book. Like a very literary person.

Bonus: a change of scenery often shakes loose ideas that were stuck. Something about different surroundings activates different thinking. I have a theory about this that involves neuroscience and also just vibes.

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3. Schedule Writing Around the Weather

Check the forecast. I’m serious. This is one of my favorite tips.

If it’s going to be gorgeous from 2–5pm, don’t plan to write then. Write in the morning while it’s still cool and your brain hasn’t fully registered how pretty it is outside. Then use the afternoon as your reward. Go enjoy the weather guilt-free, because you already got your words in.

Working with your environment instead of against it is one of the most underrated productivity moves there is. You’re not lazy — you’re strategic.

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4. Use the “Just One Pomodoro” Rule

A Pomodoro is a focused 25-minute work sprint, followed by a 5-minute break. If you’re not familiar, it’s a popular time-management technique — and it’s genuinely great for the spring-fried brain.

The rule: commit to just one. Set a timer for 25 minutes, open your manuscript, and write until it goes off. Then you’re officially allowed to stop.

The trick is that one Pomodoro almost always turns into two or three. But if it doesn’t? You still wrote for 25 minutes. That’s 25 minutes more than zero, and your unfinished book will take that deal every single day.

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5. Turn Your “Why I’m Not Writing” Into Your Next Chapter

Here’s a sneaky one.

That restless, distracted, burnt-out feeling you have right now? If you’re writing a nonfiction book — whether it’s about business, wellness, relationships, creativity — there’s almost certainly a place in your book where this exact experience is relevant. Your readers get these feelings too.

Write about it. Write from where you are right now. The most relatable books are the ones that don’t pretend the author has it all figured out. They’re the ones that say, “I know exactly how you feel, because I felt it too, and here’s what I learned.”

You might discover that spring fever doesn’t just have a place in your book. It might be one of the best things you ever put in it.

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6. Make the Outdoors a Reward, Not a Rival

Stop thinking of outside time as the thing keeping you from writing. Flip it: outside time is what you earn by writing.

Set a milestone before you go anywhere. “Once I write 400 words, I’m going for a 30-minute walk.” Or “After I finish this section, I’m sitting on the porch with a cold drink for an hour.”

Suddenly your manuscript isn’t the obstacle between you and spring — it’s the ticket to it. This small mental reframe is surprisingly powerful, especially for people who are goal-oriented (hi, you’re writing a book, you are definitely goal-oriented).

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7. Remember: Unfinished Books Don’t Publish Themselves

I say this with so much love.

I have 50,000+ words written. How many are you sitting on? If you’ve written anything, do you understand how remarkable that is? Most people who say they want to write a book never write a single word. You are so much closer than you feel right now.

Spring fever is temporary. The regret of an unfinished book that sits in your computer for another year is a lot harder to shake.

You don’t have to finish it today. You just have to write a little today. And then a little tomorrow. And the version of you who crosses the finish line on this thing — the one who holds a finished book and thinks I actually did it — that person started on a random spring day when they really didn’t feel like it.

Go write a little.

Alexa Bigwarfe is the founder and CEO of Write|Publish|Sell, a multi-passionate author, and a publishing consultant.

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If you found this helpful, share it with a writer friend who’s also staring out the window instead of at their manuscript. We’re all in this together. And this post was for ME as much as it is for any of you reading it. :-)