A Little Progress > No Progress
At the beginning of the year, I made some weekly and monthly writing goals as far as my novels-in-progress are concerned. Like most New Years Resolutions, it was more talk than action. It wasn’t that I didn’t mean it at the time. I did. I just haven’t had the time lately to really push for these goals.
For my half-written mystery, I managed to get some editing done. I dropped this project back in September when I started taking too many classes. That removed any time I had to focus on writing a novel. In order to re-familiarize myself with the story, I started going back through to do some light editing. I did not get all the way through it.
For the fantasy idea that is itching in my brain, I have a morphing storyline and main character descriptions written. The storyline is morphing because as I go along, I realize some aspects need to be changed. It’s like it is shaping itself. I really like what I have so far, but I haven’t written anything for it yet that could actually be considered part of what will be the novel. Just summaries.
This is a lot less than what I had hoped to accomplish in the first month of 2008. However, I did enter two writing competitions, and I was able to come up with stories I enjoyed writing for both of them. So, as disappointed as I am that I did not accomplish near as much as I wanted to, it is definitely better than nothing. I’m moving forward, slowly but surely.
At this point, I am thinking of temporarily shelving the half-written mystery so that I can jump full-fledged into this fantasy novel. The story is really interesting to me, much more so than the mystery-in-progress. It means more. There is more to it. I do like the idea for the mystery novel, but I do not believe it is the best thing I could write. I would like to finish it at some point, but I feel that I should focus my energy on something that means more to me.
I do hate to jump from one project to another without finishing anything. Part of me feels that I should stick it out to the end just to get it completed. I just don’t know if I should do that if my heart is with the other project. It also makes me wonder if some of my slow progress is due to the fact that I’m trying to divide my attention between the two. I feel like I might get more accomplished if I focused on one of them. I was struggling with this question a few weeks ago, and I still am. Is it better to have many projects or just one?
Hopefully, next month I will have more progress to report. I may not have stuck to my goals during January, but I am going to try my best to stick to them in February.
Filed under: time-management, writing
I hear you, Jen. Last year, I penned (okay, keyed) an entire 450-page monstrosity of a thriller manuscript. It took a lot out of me to complete it, and when I was done writing, I didn’t like the result. After a few months of tweaking it, I got another idea. For a while I worried that the only reason this new novel sounded better to me was that I was avoiding the old one. But lo and behold, it really *is* better. I went back to my first manuscript a few days ago, and now that some months have passed, I can see the potential. Still, I want to finish my current novel before returning to it in earnest.
I think you can have a lot of projects working at once as long as they’re not each all-consuming. Writing a novel and a swarm of short stories or articles is fine. But writing more than one novel at once seems like a recipe for disaster. Then again, only you know your capacity for compartmentalization–maybe you can handle it better than me!
As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with setting aside one manuscript to work on another, unless it becomes a habit. Doesn’t sound like you’re at that point yet, so maybe it’s time to lighten up and just go where your instincts take you.
Bill
Only you know what’s best for you. Personally, if I’ve got several stories wrestling around in my head to see which one gets to be a book, I pick the one that interests me most and write it. On a couple of occasions, the one I picked doesn’t work for me and I have to wade back into the pool, but I’ve still got the partially completed manuscripts. I can always go back to them later. An example of this, for me, happened this past fall. I was slogging through this one idea, and although I really liked the premise, I wasn’t making it work. Suddenly I got an idea for a new book, and the new idea wouldn’t be put off. I wrote the whole thing in 29 days (78+K words). Sometimes it just works that way. If the other book can wait, let it. ;o)
[…] A Little Progress > No Progress […]
Hi Jen,
I understand the feeling of competing ideas or manuscripts. It sounds like you have at least a first draft of the mystery completed? If so, why not put it away so that you can get some distance from it before you start revising, and in the interim, start writing the first draft of the fantasy while the idea is still new and exciitng in your mind? That way, you end up with two possible novels, and perhaps by the time you are done with the first draft of the fantasy novel you might be ready or have a fresh perspective when you come back to revise the mystery.
just a thought!
All the best,
Suzanne.
This is definitely a tough question. When I wrote my first book, I was excited the whole way through. I even spent a lot of my free “daydreaming” time on it. When I finished and it turned time to start submitting it and move on the second one, I couldn’t choose the next idea. No concept jazzed me quite like the first. Since I had several that I felt okay about, I chose an idea based on what was shorter (younger audience) and perhaps more marketable. That’s what I’m in the middle of, and I’m sticking with it. I don’t feel the same way about it as book #1, but it’s really growing on me. I don’t daydream about it, but when I write, it’s pretty smooth. In the meantime, I spend my daydreaming time plotting the next idea.
Ultimately, I agree with Bill. As long as it’s not a habit to keep putting one aside so you never finish one; go with your instincts. As someone once said (probably while inebriated, but still), writing a book is sometimes like a marriage: even the good ones still take work, but don’t beat yourself up trying to save a bad one.
Hi Jen,
New reader here, but I’m enjoying your blog. Came over from BlogRush.
Anyway, I can completely relate to where you’re at. I just wrote a post in my blog about procrastination today, which ties in a little with your waning resolutions.
My problem is that when I get in the middle of a long piece, I stall. Both creatively and literally. And I’ve learned that if I don’t slog through that middle part, I won’t finish it. Of course, everyone’s different and that may not apply, but if I were in your shoes, I’d probably finish up the mystery. Especially if I had a cool story percolating in the back of my head that I wanted to get to. That would give me great incentive to get the first one finished! I’m all about incentives
Either way, I hope you get them *both* done this year! Best of luck!
Venessa