What I Need to Learn

I think learning about the scope of what burnout and blocks really are could serve to improve my writing. I figure it's probably more of a scale than a state, and knowing where that scale begins is just as important as where it ends. Of course I'll need the perspectives of a wide variety of positions as well. I don't consider myself that creative, and I'm certainly not in a position where I'm, say, making paintings on the daily. I've already seen how people talk about this issue in general, though that's mainly been passive intake rather than dedicated research. I'm hoping some of my social work interviewing skills will come in handy when conducting individual interviews on this subject. How it appears in everyday life I think is probably one of the most important perspectives, given how so many people go off to their 'dream jobs', only to grow to dislike them over the years they work there.

Research Actions

-Scope of burnout: Primarily reading research, some lived experience.
-Perspectives: Primarily interview, some written content. (more blogs than research journals)
-How people talk: Written content from social media/blogs, some from interviews.
-Interviewing techniques: Preparing a written list and watching other interviews to get an idea of how to conduct one properly.
-Appearance in everyday life: Almost entirely interview focused, some research papers.

A Possible Path

I'll likely be looking into actual extant research on the subject first, partly to gather raw data for the paper, and partly to get ideas for what to ask about in the interviews. I'll likely then turn to blog posts and social media for additional information gathering. I might reach out to some artists through platforms like twitter as well to see if they'd like to provide written statements regarding their relationship with their work. Then will come the interviews. I'm lucky enough to know a fair amount of creatives in my personal life, so finding people on that end to interview won't be so difficult. I'll also reach out to those working their 'dream jobs' unrelated to creative work to see how their perspectives line up with previous interviews and data. I don't anticipate much struggle in this, given how widespread the topic and information on it is. If anything, the difficulty will come with my own time management, even before I'd have trouble say, finding interview subjects.

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