Choosing between writing projects

Dona St Columb · Jul 26, 2020

After finishing one writing project, how do you decide what to work on next? Since self-publishing my first book in March I've been flitting endlessly between unfinished WIP's and I can't seem to stick at one longer than a couple of weeks before I start thinking about one of the others and wishing I was working on that instead.

On the one hand, I have two unfinished projects (one is a first draft, the other a third draft/rewrite) that I feel I *should* be working on as my plan was to self-publish those next, so I've been trying to focus on those, but I'm feeling a pull towards other writing in an entirely separate genre with less expectation behind it.

I'm not sure how much of my problem is my attention span (or lack thereof!) during lockdown and how much of it is 'second book syndrome' and my anxiety that I might never finish anything ever again.

So, how do you all go about choosing what to work on? Do any of you work on multiple WIP's at once, and if so, how do you make it work? I have to say, it doesn't seem to be working very well for me so far, but maybe I'm doing it all wrong?!

Any suggestions or advice gratefully received!

TellMeAStory · Jul 26, 2020

Let's say it's three projects you're flitting between. Given the time it takes to finish one, you'll finish three. No problem.

You don't have to worry about flitting; sometimes that's the best way to manage time and attention.

Cephus · Jul 26, 2020

I have a detailed plan. I know the next 26 books I will be writing in order and as I come up with new ones, they go on the end of the list. I found that I was having the same problem, when I'd finish something, I'd go for the newest, shiniest project and ignore things that had been sitting there for a while. So I'm forcing myself to write in order.

mccardey · Jul 26, 2020

Lord, I wish I had a brain full of next projects. I take about a year before I can even start thinking about the next one and then another year to realise that dog doesn't hunt.

LJD · Jul 26, 2020

Dona St Columb said:
So, how do you all go about choosing what to work on? Do any of you work on multiple WIP's at once, and if so, how do you make it work?

I have 3 WIPs right now. (Plus one book up for pre-order that I have to do a final proofread or two of.) I like letting things sit for a while after a draft, so I switch off between projects after I finish a draft. I usually have 3-4 drafts before a book goes to my editor. So lately my schedule has looked like:

June (completed)
Novel A, draft 4 (after betas)
Novella 1, draft 1
Novel A, edits
Novella 1, draft 2

July
Novel C, draft 1
Novel A, proofread

August (planned, anyway)
Novel B, draft 3
Novella 1, draft 3

September
Novel B, edits
Novel C, draft 2

If that looks like a lot of work, I write full-time at present. (Well, about 25-30 hours a week.) Because of this, I rarely need to spend more than 2-3 weeks on a project at a time, because that's how long it takes me to finish a draft. Draft 1 takes longer than subsequent drafts.

I self-publish 5 or more novellas and short novels a year, though Novel C is for a publisher. I plan out my series in advance and there's a little flexibility in my schedule, but I don't let myself get distracted by new ideas. Sometimes I incorporate new ideas into something that's already planned.

starrystorm · Jul 26, 2020

mccardey said:
Lord, I wish I had a brain full of next projects. I take about a year before I can even start thinking about the next one and then another year to realise that dog doesn't hunt.

Same. The book I'm writing now was an idea I had way back in 2017. Ideas are hard and take a long time to simmer.

It also doesn't help that some days I think all my ideas are the best, and other days they all stink.

Drascus · Jul 27, 2020

So right now I'm working on my second book and I have 5 ideas
* LGBQT+ Epic Fantasy with Dragons and crazy magic fights
* YA Book about death of a parent + bonus necromancy
* YA book about identity / deciding what the MC's values are + bonus shapeshifting
* Book about a Magic IT guy/gal
* Book about how corporations are all run by literal Dragons

I'm pretty excited about all of them! I've decided to work on the death of a parent book.

The thing that works for me so far is to remember what excited me about writing that story, focus in on the key inspiration before I start writing. Basically, get myself excited about the book all over again.

starrystorm · Jul 27, 2020

Drascus said:
The thing that works for me so far is to remember what excited me about writing that story, focus in on the key inspiration before I start writing. Basically, get myself excited about the book all over again.

Exactly. Whenever I'm stuck or feeling bad about my work, I just open my original notes and flip through them. Back when I was so excited and had "the greatest idea ever". It turns out sometimes my original plan works better than the one I'm trying to cram in at the time.

Kalyke · Jul 29, 2020

I'm not published, and I just started getting back into writing after a gap of some years. So I have a bunch of books half finished-- at least I can sympathise with that. I am also a sculptor. My projects take a few weeks each, but I generally work no more than a few hours a day on any one of them. And writing takes up a chunk of about 4 hours per day. So that is maybe 5-6 hours per day if that. (Which is why I don't watch TV).

I work on multiple projects per day week or month because I am a project person. I love starting and finishing projects. A novel is a longer project, taking more time. Some of these young guys claim to be able to write 100K words in a month-- I don't see how.

So I guess I am saying is what is your personality like? Are you a project person -- able to jugggle many thoughts, ideas, actions in your head, or are you a more linear thinker, doing only one thing from start to finish.

I think really to answer your question you need to think about your personality or "practice." What do you feel more comfortable doing.

Primus · Aug 4, 2020

I'm currently managing three works: an in-progress novel that's being edited, a sequel to that novel and a short story collection. What helps me is prioritizing which project to dedicate my time to on a given day. Essentially, I rank them in order of importance. That gives me direction on what to focus on for each day.

So, what I would suggest is prioritizing which project(s) are most important to you on a given day and focus solely on those for that day, then the next day, if you're gravitating towards another idea/work, dedicate your time to that. As you develop these stories you might find that you prefer one over the rest and begin to dedicate all your attention to that story, day in and day out. That would then resolve your unrest over which project to work on and you'll see it to the end.

Dona St Columb · Aug 6, 2020

I just wanted to thank you all for your replies. It's made me see that my 'flitting' isn't necessarily a bad thing and that maybe switching my attention every few weeks is just how I'm able to create at the moment, and maybe that will change again in time when things *gestures at the world in general* settle down.

I think part of the issue is that my various unfinished WIP's are all in different stages, and some days I don't want to be tackling a re-write, I want to be creating something fresh and new, whereas other days the idea of plucking new words from my brain is unfathomable and I'd rather work on something with a more rigid structure, like a third draft where I know what's supposed to happen.

In any case, I'm trying to stay positive and be thankful I'm still writing at all after the madness of this year so far.

Choosing between writing projects

Del Lago