✍️ The 3 Mindset Shifts That Took Me from Burnout to Six Figures as a Writer
Because your writing career doesn’t start with that major new opportunity — it starts with how you think.
Once upon a fluorescent-lit lunch break, I was trapped in the in-between.
Not quite a corporate lifer, not quite a full-time freelancer — just a writer with big dreams and a bad chair, refreshing my inbox and pretending I wasn’t quietly panicking about the future.
The truth? I was stuck.
Stuck clocking in and out of someone else’s schedule.
Stuck believing that stability meant settling.
Stuck telling myself that maybe, one day, I’d figure out how to make writing my real job.
Spoiler: “One day” doesn’t come on its own.
What changed wasn’t a new job or a fancy client.
What changed was my mindset.
Fast forward to now: I’m writing memoirs for founders and publishing my own bestselling books. A camera crew was at my home here in San Francisco this week filming what my writing life looks like. I’ve traipsed abroad to join writing workshops in Tuscany, wandered bookshops in Copenhagen, and I’m currently planning a trip to Vegas to see the Backstreet Boys in the Sphere (cue early 2000s nostalgia!) all while writing books for myself and my clients.
I’m not saying that shifting your mindset will get you front-row tickets to your dream life overnight — but it’s where everything starts.
In today’s Sunday Tea, I’m sharing the 3 mindset shifts that helped me escape the grind, build a six-figure writing career, and finally live like the main character in my own story.
Let’s flip the switch.
📚 P.S. Want to be a beta reader? I’m looking for early readers for the upcoming second edition of my book Six-Figure Freelance Writer. If you’re interested, sign up here.
In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about:
✨ The 3 mindset shifts that helped me recover from burnout and build my six-figure writing career
✍️ High-paying writing jobs you may have missed last week
📚 Writing wins from the community here at From the Desk!
✍️ Missed This Past Week’s Writing Jobs?
Did you miss it? Here are the writing jobs on the most recent job board:
A UK food outlet is after sharp, culturally-driven essays and critiques for £500–£800/article.
A big ideas outlet is paying $750/story for sharp, original features on how we think, live, and lead.
Two separate authors are seeking editors for their debut dark romantasy novels.
If you missed the last issue of my writing job board, check it out at the link below:
🙌 Writing Community Wins!
Here’s what some of your fellow writers in the community have been up to lately:
Both
and landed paid writing assignments with Business Insider, which we often share pitch calls here on the writing job board for personal essays and more. Congrats Phoenix and Alyssa!- just started her new Substack on the business of TV. Congrats, Sabrina!
Writers in our community have also been having lots of different creative wins lately. Robin (
) just had a breakthrough on their portfolio, and just landed their first beta reading opportunity in the poetry space. Congrats Robin and Ari!
Access the subscriber chat below and share what’s on your mind when it comes to making writing your job:
🫖 Sunday Tea: The 3 Mindset Shifts That Took Me from Burnout to Six Figures
There’s a nightmare version of my life I think about sometimes.
In that version, I burn out completely.
I walk away from writing before I ever make my first six-figure year.
I never figure out how to freelance sustainably or write the books I so deeply want to share.
I give up — not because I wasn’t talented, but because I was tired.
Burnout is sneaky like that. It doesn’t show up with a dramatic announcement. It creeps in slowly: one too-late night, one underpaid project, one missed creative breakthrough at a time.
And it almost took me out of the game.
Burnout is the thing that keeps writers stuck.
It kills your consistency.
It blocks your creativity.
It makes you question your worth, your work, your whole damn dream.
If you’re feeling it right now, you’re not alone. But here’s the good news: burnout isn’t inevitable — and it isn’t permanent.
What saved me wasn’t a perfect calendar system or a productivity hack. It was a mindset shift.
Actually — three of them.
Here are the 3 mindset shifts that helped me beat burnout, build a six-figure writing career, and fall back in love with my work:
🧠 1. From Scarcity → Abundance
The biggest leap I made wasn’t leaving a job — it was leaving behind the belief that good writing jobs were scarce.
Scarcity says, “There’s too much competition.”
Abundance says, “There are plenty of writing opportunities out there waiting for me to take the leap.”
When you start believing the opportunities exist, your brain stops looking for rejection and starts looking for alignment. And that mindset leads you to pitch with more confidence, apply more boldly, and create more opportunities for yourself.
Want a place to start? I curate the highest-paying writing jobs on the Internet as part of my the Writing Job Roundup, posted every Tuesday and Friday for paid subscribers (with job opportunities posted 24/7 in our Subscriber chat thanks to our wonderful team — shoutout to Bea and Lauryl for hunting down some of the best writing and editing jobs out there!)
💡 2. From Perfection → Progress
At some point, you have to trade in the dream of the perfect writing routine for a consistent one. I used to wait for the perfect project, perfect playlist, perfect phase of the moon — anything but progress. That kept me stuck.
Now? I track my writing by the week, not the day. I don’t aim for perfection — I aim for forward momentum. Especially on the weeks where I’m sprinting hard (aka a growth week), I’m not trying to break a world record — just make it to the finish line with gas left in the tank.
I’ll be teaching more about setting up sustainable writing systems in ClassStack.
🌓 3. From Always On → Strategic Rest
Spoiler alert: I don’t hustle 24/7. (And you shouldn’t either.) I shift between two gears — growth weeks and maintenance weeks.
In growth weeks, I’m writing chapters, taking meetings, planning book launches.
In maintenance weeks, I’m replying to invoices, scheduling travel, or working on passion projects at a slower pace. Maybe I’m reading more. Or maybe I’m sleeping in. But I’m still showing up — just in a different way.
This gear-shifting strategy has kept me from burning out again. Because you don’t have to be productive 24/7 — you just need a rhythm that actually lets you rest.
📌 The Bottom Line:
If you want a writing career that lasts, you need a mindset that fuels, not fries, your brain.
Your mindset should help you keep writing with consistency, confidence, and care.
🎓 See You in Class: What’s New on ClassStack
My live class series on everything you need to know to make writing your job.
💻 On the Blog: What’s New on AmySuto.com
Articles about the writing life.
Why I Quit Being a Digital Nomad. I traveled the world as a digital nomad for 5 years — and this year I decided to “settle down.” What that means and why I ended my travel-first lifestyle in this article.
How to Hire a Book Editor. Wondering when to hire a book editor? Learn the difference between developmental, line, and proofreading services — and how to choose the right editor for your novel, memoir, or nonfiction book.
📚 Author Corner: On Writing Something That Resonates With Readers
What I’m up to in my work as an author.
Teri Brown at Online for Authors interviewed me about my book The Nomad Detective: Volume I which came out just under a year ago and was inspired by my travels as a digital nomad. Listen to the interview here!
We talked about the “dark side” of nomadic life — the moments that don’t make it into Instagram highlight reels — and how that shadowy complexity inspired the character of Detective Violet Chase. I didn’t want her to be another flat, tropey female sleuth. I wanted her to confront evil with nuance, with intuition, and with the kind of interior depth that most detectives (and most female characters in this genre) don’t often get.
This first volume follows Violet through a series of international cases — glamorous on the surface, but each with a darker undercurrent. Picture this: a missing person case that ends in a jungle rave in Costa Rica. A murder mystery that unfolds mile by mile along the misty cliffs of the Inca Trail. A curious disappearance in Venice where every canal seems to hide a secret. And finally, a killer lurking beneath the cobblestones of the Paris Catacombs. The Nomad Detective: Volume I is a love letter to the beauty and weirdness I’ve encountered while writing my way around the world.
Readers still email me about Violet. (And yes, I swear Volume II is coming!) I think she resonates because she’s both gifted and haunted: her synesthesia and ability to see auras act as both superpower and burden — kind of like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes with better shoes and emotional intelligence.
So if you’re working on your own book right now? Just remember: its impact doesn’t end when you hit publish. Sometimes, the stories you write keep echoing long after you’ve moved on to the next passport stamp, the next blank page.
Keep writing. The ripple effects might surprise you.
Enjoyed today’s post? Please give it a “heart” ❤️ and share or restack it.
Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,
-Amy
Your first one is the one that I struggle with – Scarcity says, “There’s too much competition.”
Abundance says, “There are plenty of writing opportunities out there waiting for me to take the leap.”
As Substack grows by leaps & bounds seemingly daily, I find myself often discouraged by the sheer volume of what's 'out there.'
I hadn't considered growth weeks and maintenance weeks. As a self-diagnosed workaholic, it's always been difficult for me to unplug once my brain has latched onto an idea or a task. I've been working on it for years and this piece of advice about breaking up the goals I'm working on so that I have bursts of growth and then slower weeks that still equal progress really hit for me. I'm not sure how to break that down to how it could work for me, but I'm eager to figure it out.
Thanks for sharing my win, Amy!