Writing Wednesday - On writing...and on not writing

It's been no secret - if you're a regular follower of my blog - that I haven't been blogging as regularly as I'd originally set myself up for.  Especially the last two weeks.  I've had a lot of stuff going on that made it so I didn't want to be online.  I'm still having issues, and those issues are preventing me from enjoying what I love most (outside of Himself and Reidar, of course)...my writing.

My writing has suffered as depression, stress, and broken promises have taken their toll on me.  But lately I've felt a need to be writing again that not even my very real issues with my "normal" life can diminish.  I'm not working on anything new right now but I'm revising my Beauty and the Beast rewrite so I can get it e-pubbed as soon as possible.  I'm hoping to help ease a little bit of the financial burden by FINALLY making some kind of profit off of my scrabbles (as I've been known to call my stories).

Usually writing is a release for me.  It's a way for me to escape my reality.  But reality won't let me escape from it.  When I can't escape, writing becomes a burden instead of a blessing.  It's finally becoming a blessing again as I've been able to slip into my imagination and lose myself in a world of my own creation.  Life generally comes crashing back in but I'm able to evade it for a little while.

Not writing has given me plenty of free time, so I've been reading a lot more.  Mostly just old favorites, but I've dabbled in making the acquaintance of a few new books as well.  I finally finished the Hunger Games trilogy.  It rekindled my desire to write in my dystopian world but that project is on hold until I finish my faerie tale rewrites.  Those are what I'm focused on right now.  Those and fixing the world building issues with Aleran.

I discovered that my break from writing gave me what I needed to carry on with my plans.  I came to realize that sometimes I just need to walk away from the writing.  Take a break.  Read.  Crochet.  Play Sims 3.  Do SOMETHING other than write, in order to be able to look at my projects with a fresh, new set of eyes.

What do you do when you feel writer burn out?