I was never the biggest fan of Livejournal but I feel you so much on this. Somehow I was juggling school and cool fanworks but nowadays I can barely keep a job and scribble on the side. I had a brain event that took away my knack for writing too, can't do creative writing with the same ease as before, can't project feelings on characters. If it's fanfic with a pre-established world and characters I can do it (but it's not as natural as it used to be) but yeah, it hits... not as good. Can't say it's a lack of time issue either, just executive dysfunction and maybe chronic depression and brain damage really. The minds prioritizes survival and everything else gets shoved under the bus.

It saddens me to revisit old fansites on Wayback Machine because I can tell it's not just my enthusiasm that was taken away by hustle culture. It's mine, yours and a lot of other folks' too.