How much have you got on your plate - well, your writing desk?

Ooh, Bettie reminded me that I "should" be planning the second book in my series, too.

Better go edit my post.

I am good for something....

bettielee said:

I am good for something....

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Damn straight.

*Many hugs.*

Novel 1, The Spider, with betas.

Novel 2, The Seventh Sister, resting before edits.

Novel 3, Descent into Madness, drafting.

Novel 4, Blood and Water, complete but lost to a hard drive monster (not a virus... melt down)

Seven short stories taking turns in Query Land. Thirty-three left in the trunk, never to be seen again.

One undergoing what will hopefully be the second to last edit before sending out to Beta.

One still floating around in my head. (A rewrite of a Nano novel I did about 4 years ago)

And my pet project, sitting nicely at 40K. Not really a lot once you write it down. But I've been wrestling with my WIP since December. By now I thought I'd be querying agents.

Hmm, lessee...

I'm waiting for revision notes from my editor on DD.
About 11K words into the DD sequel, and semi-stuck. (ok, really stuck)
Need to compile beta notes on Muse and revise.
Need to get a second draft of Peacemaker under my belt, and get it out to betas.
Have 1 chapter written for Tactile, and need to get back to it in general.
Need to work on plotting/outlining a possible YA urban fantasy.

Right now I'm trying to keep things simple. I have one novel-in-progress and one flash fiction out on submission to keep track of. Until I can get a handle on all the WIPs I have bouncing around, I am only doing one at a time. Including my current WIP I have 5 novels that I started writing and for whatever reason(s) stopped after anywhere from 500 to 6000 words. Besides the one I'm working on, of course.

Being busy isn't the problem for me, it's staying focused. I let one idea out to play and before I know it there's a half a dozen flying around trying to set my hair on fire.

I have one project, and it's taking up all my writing time. It's something I swore I would never do again, and here I am, working on it. The allure of the project was just too much to keep me away from it.

At present, I've just finished Chapter Two, and the WIP stands at 7,687 words.

scarletpeaches said:

Have you ever heard that saying, "If you want something done, ask a busy man?" I believe it's a truism; certainly the more I do, the more I find I'm able to do. You need to do something, you find the time.

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I've never found that to be true in my case. The more on my plate, the more I drown. I think the expression should be, "If you want something done, ask an organized man."

Right now I'm editing my WIP for one final time. That's it. That's all I can handle.

I should probably start by telling everyone that I have ADD.

Projects, in no particular order:

1. FINAL revision of my first novel (it really is final, because even if it sucks I'm not doing it again) -- 8/18 chapters completed
2. 3rd novel in my fantasy series -- ready to be edited, but I hate editing, so it's just sitting there.
3. Contemporary novel -- 47k/110k, kind of being procrastinated on, but for no good reason.
4. Sequel to my YA novel -- 35k/85k, basically on hold.
5. 4th book in my fantasy series -- 42k/120k, on hold until the edits on the rest of the series are completed (and because writing books I can't query probably isn't the best use of my time).
6. Completed YA fantasy novel -- Ready to query except I don't have a synopsis. Am actively doing everything in my power to put off writing synopsis and querying.
7. Nightmares or Dreams? (stand-alone fantasy novel) -- Outlining
8. New fantasy series -- Sort of outlining, mostly fighting with world-building and trying not to think about how long it took me to create my first fantasy world.
9. Paradise's Price (stand-alone fantasy novel) -- 9.5k/100k, most active WIP
10. Near-future sci-fi novel -- Re-outlining because there's something wrong with it. Outlining would be more productive if I knew what was wrong.
11. Books 5-10 of my main fantasy series -- Supposed to be on hold, but distracting me from everything else.

I need help. Really, I'm drowning over here.

I have lots of projects started, but only a couple I'm actively working on.

I have a baseball novel about 15,000 words done, which I'm just now getting back to, hoping for 2,000 words in June.

I have a completed short story simultaneously submitted to six markets. Waiting....

I have decided to go the freelance route for a while. My first query resulted in an assignment with a request to get in in quick for the next issue. I did so, reviewing the proofs this week. Now I'm researching other freelance markets of the same type. I find the research kind of daunting, but I'm plugging away at it. I hope to send in other queries next week.

I also write Bible studies, mainly for my own teaching but which seem to have publishing potential. So whenever the spirit moves me I work on one of those, trying to convert my notes in publishable text. I have four of those in some state of incompletion.

And I'm more or less constantly either working on or brainstorming my newspaper column. I have 18 finished to serve as prototypes, with four published (no compensation) in our local newspaper. I think it has great promise for success, but I hesitate to commit to the marketing and ongoing writing for fear it will consume all my creative writing time.

Novel 1 sits in the draw with its eight rejections, hoping I will dust it off and resume marketing it.

NDG

I try to follow the "one plan at a time" approach.

WIP: Halfway done.
1 (hopefully short) story, urban fantasy, taken out when the WIP is uncooperative, about 4k written
1 urban fantasy novel awaiting a rewrite of its beginning, to be tended to once the WIP's first draft is complete
1 nonfiction proposal, one-third of the way completed and low in priority

Mostly I pay attention to the WIP and try to save the rest for later, but my brain likes to hop around.