Writing Prompt: Burnout / burn out
5
February 2008
Before you race off to your keyboard to write about a car doing a burnout, think for a moment on the other possibilities for this seemingly simple word when it is applied to the realm of writing.
A person can suffer from burnout, maybe because they have too much work piled onto their shoulders, or maybe they are having a hard time getting their life balanced out for work and other commitments? Caregivers have their very own definition of burnout that many family caregivers suffer at one time or another. It is brought on by having too much responsibility and not enough resources to help with that responsibility.
Do a small change to make it two words and you have a fire that ran out of fuel. Did the engines on the space ship burn out? Did the sacred fire that must burn forever suddenly burn out? Has the sun began to burn out?
