Not so much a writing game as a thinking game, I'll admit. A couple of friends of mine are facing burnout in their various projects - not all of them writing, but most of them creative endeavours that have to fit in around earning a living.

They're rapidly losing interest in their respective projects, and they're seeming more like a chore than pleasure, and more effort than reward.

My first-aid for project burnout is to take a break. At least a month, sometimes up to six, depending on how long and ardently you've been working on the project. No thinking about the project during the time-out.

Usually, one of two things will happen. Either I'll recover from the burnout and start itching to get back to the project, and realise an issue with it that had probably caused the burnout in the first place, or I'll realise that the reason I was burned out was that this activity just doesn't interest me anymore.

It's okay to let stuff go if it's just not for you anymore. Nobody said you had to do this. And it's just as okay to take a break from stuff and try other things to see if, maybe, you've moved on from that interest or you just need a time out for a while.

But it can be helpful to have a reminder of why you liked it in the first place - especially if you're trying to make a decision on whether to continue or go back. So - assuming, at the moment, you're into your writing (or other activity - this works equally well for everything else) - why do you like it? What is it about it that drives you, that inspires you? What do you enjoy about it?

There' s no judgement here, that's important. No such thing as a 'good' reason or a 'bad' reason. If one of the things you love about writing is having written, rather than writing, that's okay. Or if you like an excuse to retreat from the world for an hour or two with permission to daydream. That's fine.

The point now is not to determine that you don't have any reasons 'good enough' to keep doing this, it's just to make a list for yourself as to why you like it. Later, when you're deliberating whether to give up writing for a new career in scuba-pyrotechnics, you can look back on the list and make that judgement call. But for now - why do you write?