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managing WIPs

gumandsoda

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I'm wondering how people manage their writing time when you are working on multiple projects? For example: I have a novel I'm revising, a new novel I'm writing, and a nonfiction academic book I'm revising. I also work a LOT (as in for money, which for me doesn't include writing unfortunately), so I'm pretty limited in the time I can devote to any of these. How do you all schedule your writing time when you have multiple WIPs?
 

imperialDD

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I'm working on two WIPs - a science fiction / techno-thriller trilogy and a fantasy epic. For over two years I was working on the fantasy epic but found myself not making the progress I wanted to make on it, so I switched gears. I spend most of my energy on the techno-thriller, with an occasional divergence to the fantasy epic. I found that while I focused on one, I would go back periodically to the other just to familiarize myself with the story and characters so I that I don't become completely divorced from them and lose interest.

I also work full-time and write as an unpaid hobby, so I feel you on that. I would encourage you to prioritize the three. Since you're revising your novel, how long was the period between finishing it and revising? If it was short, you might want to take a break from it and divert your time and energy to the new novel you're writing or vice versa. And then come back to it with fresh eyes.
 

gumandsoda

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I'm working on two WIPs - a science fiction / techno-thriller trilogy and a fantasy epic. For over two years I was working on the fantasy epic but found myself not making the progress I wanted to make on it, so I switched gears. I spend most of my energy on the techno-thriller, with an occasional divergence to the fantasy epic. I found that while I focused on one, I would go back periodically to the other just to familiarize myself with the story and characters so I that I don't become completely divorced from them and lose interest.

I also work full-time and write as an unpaid hobby, so I feel you on that. I would encourage you to prioritize the three. Since you're revising your novel, how long was the period between finishing it and revising? If it was short, you might want to take a break from it and divert your time and energy to the new novel you're writing or vice versa. And then come back to it with fresh eyes.

Oh, a very long time. I think I finished the novel in 2015 and I just got an R&R from a publisher, so I am revising it to send it back to them. They didn't give me a deadline for that, but after getting some advice on this website, I'm guessing they probably don't want to see it again for at least six months, and it's going to take me at least that long to do a thorough revision while managing work, etc. But now that I'm getting my head back into that novel, I'm finding it challenging to go back and forth between that and my new WIP, but since it has been so long since I finished the novel, I feel like I want to keep moving forward with it, because I don't like that I haven't finished another novel yet. I want to have something new ready to send out as soon as this one gets published.
 

imperialDD

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Oh, a very long time. I think I finished the novel in 2015 and I just got an R&R from a publisher, so I am revising it to send it back to them. They didn't give me a deadline for that, but after getting some advice on this website, I'm guessing they probably don't want to see it again for at least six months, and it's going to take me at least that long to do a thorough revision while managing work, etc. But now that I'm getting my head back into that novel, I'm finding it challenging to go back and forth between that and my new WIP, but since it has been so long since I finished the novel, I feel like I want to keep moving forward with it, because I don't like that I haven't finished another novel yet. I want to have something new ready to send out as soon as this one gets published.

Hmm, maybe finding a good place to stop in your revision? What is your revision process like? Maybe another method is to set a schedule for yourself. Say Sundays you work on writing your new novel, Mondays it's revising your novel, Tuesdays it's revising your nonfiction book, etc. You could also create spaces in your home dedicated to each. Maybe you revise on the couch but write at your desk? And you can even reward yourself too! I think if you standardize it, it will help balance it all out.
 

gumandsoda

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Hmm, maybe finding a good place to stop in your revision? What is your revision process like? Maybe another method is to set a schedule for yourself. Say Sundays you work on writing your new novel, Mondays it's revising your novel, Tuesdays it's revising your nonfiction book, etc. You could also create spaces in your home dedicated to each. Maybe you revise on the couch but write at your desk? And you can even reward yourself too! I think if you standardize it, it will help balance it all out.

I like this idea -- I'm big on scheduling and specific locations, so I will try this. :) As for my revision process -- I have no idea yet lol. Right now I am reading a book on structure and taking specific notes and ideas about ways I can apply it to my novel. Then I will probably do some outlining, then get to it. I think I actually may re-key the whole thing so that I'm not just shoving new information in there, and forcing myself to really deeply look at the whole structure, and every word.
 

starrystorm

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I have different days for different projects. While I'm at school and have free-time, I write on my survival novel because I have my laptop with me. At home I edit my futuristic UF because it's a giant touchscreen computer that I can't take to school.
 

Layla Nahar

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When I'm working on multiples I can do them serially in a session. fwiw. Not trying to sound like an asshole, just wanted to add to the list of possible approaches to this problem. So, I might work on WIP A for 20 minutes, B for 5-10, C for 10-15 - something like that. Mostly I'd do them in the same order day to day.
 

KayMitch

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For me I always have multiples open, but I don't schedule my time. I purposely have multiples open so that I can work on whatever is pedaling my brain at the moment. That way I get the most work done instead of forcing words out and hating them later.
 

maggiee19

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Last year I was working on three WIP's at the same time. Then I stopped because I realized I can only do one at a time.
 

gumandsoda

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I love reading everyone's approaches, and how different we all are! I mean, I guess it comes back to the basic answer to most questions about writing and productivity -- as long as you're doing it, it doesn't really matter how! :)
 

SciSarahTops

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I like this idea -- I'm big on scheduling and specific locations, so I will try this. :) As for my revision process -- I have no idea yet lol. Right now I am reading a book on structure and taking specific notes and ideas about ways I can apply it to my novel. Then I will probably do some outlining, then get to it. I think I actually may re-key the whole thing so that I'm not just shoving new information in there, and forcing myself to really deeply look at the whole structure, and every word.

Interested to know which bookyou mean!


I tend to work on one at a time for weeks, it's just how my brain works. I have one part time job but do some other work too and have a young family so time (and energy) are perpetually short.
 

SwallowFeather

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Interested to know which bookyou mean!

I'm interested as well!

I feel like I could never work on multiple projects at a time. At most I can interrupt work on a novel to write a short piece, and I don't mean a short story, I mean a 3-page dramatic reading b/c someone needs it for a community event. But usually I want my brain to be always working on my Big Project in the background as I do my other work, and having more than one would confuse the heck out of it.
 

gumandsoda

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Interested to know which bookyou mean!


I tend to work on one at a time for weeks, it's just how my brain works. I have one part time job but do some other work too and have a young family so time (and energy) are perpetually short.

It's called Save the Cat! Writes a novel by Jessica Brody. It is helpful, but honestly I am feeling really overwhelmed by revising this novel, so I am applying to a (very highly paid) writing program that will help me.
 

WriteMinded

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I don't schedule my writing at all. I just work on what is in front of me. If that is more than one project, I choose the one I feel most like digging into. Currently I have three completed novels that need a smidge of editing or, in one case, some revision. I also have a book I set aside after Chapter Three. I'll be getting back to that when I'm through editing the others . . . unless, of course, I suddenly feel moved to pen Chapter Four, or Five, or Six.
 
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Norman Mjadwesch

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Not only do I switch from whichever work I am most enthused about at any given time, I do the same thing within the internal structure of each story (with novels, anyway; short fiction always gets written from beginning to end). It’s not unusual for me to skip from scene to scene in no particular order, although sometimes linear progression is easier. I tend to find that if I insist on working on something that isn’t pulling me with the same strength as something else, I start losing concentration. I actually am pretty good at knocking out large blocks of work on the same WIP before I move onto other things, but with the marathon-length novels I can’t sustain it. The major work I am writing ATM was one I began in 2016 but it’s pretty heavy going sometimes, and so I wrote a shorter novel when I decided to take a break from the longer one, and now I’m doing the same again with an idea I had over the Christmas period.

What I do find particularly useful when I put aside a WIP for a period of time, is that when I come back to it, it is with new eyes and I can more easily assess the flow of the writing, plus find whatever typos have crept in while I was looking at the larger landscape.
 

pattmayne

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I'm always writing one novel and plotting ahead (taking notes) for the next novel or two.

I (presumptuously) suggest you only write one novel at a time. Focus more. Get it done. Each work deserves all your attention.

But write down snippets and ideas for the next project, all the time.
 

The_Merovingian

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I like to start and not finish pieces. I just wrote the second part of my story a year after the first part :D I don't know when I will finish part 3.
In between I started 2 others stories, and done other short writing projects...