Does anyone find that a non-writing creative project helps you mentally shift gears between manuscripts?
For drafting, I might be shifting gears by the end of the WIP headed into the next one. Usually unless I'm working on a short story between projects, I just jump from the last one to the next one. Halloween day, for instance, I wrote 6k~ words to close out a manuscript, and then I wrote 2.5k words of the NaNo project the next day. And when I finished the NaNo project (just 1.2k words that last day), I wrote 1.8k on the Christmas slasher the next day.
Between the Christmas slasher and Ralphie Rickets was a Real Boy, there were two non-manuscript days (12/19-20) between the projects. But I wrote and edited a 2.3k short story on the 19th, and then worked on a short story I abandoned on the 20th (it just wasn't working how I wanted, and long fiction is my priority). The short story was apparently a bit of a dud, since everybody who read it seemed confused on at least a point or two (beyond any other impressions they had), but part of the problem was I understated it since the contest I was subbing to was more upmarket. And I'm not sure whether my changes to the ending made it better or worse, although at least I fixed some other issues
In general, though, I tend to put off editing/revision for previously-mentioned reasons. I'm not sure how much gear-shifting is involved because I don't have it down to a routine or anything. And, unless there's some urgency (usually an external source), I kinda put it off. The only reason I finished the initial edits on my fourth manuscript was because I got bites from crit partners and a beta reader almost immediately. I finished some more fixes on the first manuscript because that sketchy indie publisher (who I never followed up with because I learned more about them (courtesy of AW's beware section, which is what got me to join the board), but supposedly they were pausing a lot of stuff anyway) full-requested. (Prior to that, my first manuscript didn't have a lot of standard formatting elements -- not even page breaks (instead I just lines for chapter breaks) because I didn't know how any of that worked.) And so on.
I've been struggling to re-engage with my NaNo WIP, I have lots of ideas for what needs to be done but my brain isn't quite ready to get started on the hard work.
I generally put off the more difficult or vague edits/revisions. It's why I still haven't touched my fifth manuscript (despite starting a first pass on my sixth and, more recently, my seventh) -- it's going to require a lot of thought in terms of sequencing the events/POV chapters, adding some markers to clarify the timeline, and deciding which revelations to push (for instance, a reveal I'd intended for closer to the end I put nearer the midpoint because it transitioned nicely)... and then, I guess, I add sly nods earlier where it doesn't feel like a continuity error. And I kinda went out of my way to not make any instance feel like I just ****ed up (because there are two characters who look almost identical other than the other feature).
The NaNo project (manuscript 9) should be less of a headache because it's linear (minus the "instructional" chapters, which I don't necessarily intend to be sequential -- just more relevant the scenario). However, as mentioned, it's going to be a lot of work since I'll likely need to rewrite the "instructional" chapters to make them more focused (although, in-universe, they're meant to be authored by a character, so they don't necessarily have to be perfect) and then polish more on polishing the rest after my initial edits.
I foolishly thought I'd start the revisions mid or late December (after finishing the first draft for manuscript 10), finishing up in the first week of January. Meanwhile I still haven't started because I've been hopping around other things. I'm hoping to be completely done with the first round of edits on my seventh manuscript next week, and then I'll start the initial read-through/mark-up on the NaNo project afterward... but I still to implement the rest of my crit partner's suggestions for my fourth manuscript so I can maybe put that through a full round of beta readers and have something ready for query.