"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right'. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." ~Napoleon Hill
Uh oh...it's happening...that awful moment where you get pulled away from your WIP because it utterly frustrates you for the temptation of the new, shiny story idea waiting in the wings.
I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks, mostly because May is a CRAZY busy month with school and I've been doing promo stuff for other books. But Entwined is still 60K words in, waiting for me to figure out the ending. Which I can't manage to do. Oh, I have a general idea of what I want to happen. But the last few times I've tried to tackle it, nothing's really worked, and all I have is this voice inside my head saying, "Well, that's not going to work. Readers will see right through that. And how are you going to get 30K more words with that plotline??" Sigh.
Meanwhile, the other day I tinkered with the outline for my next planned 24-hour novel, One Night in Savannah, and thought, "Oh, yeah. Really like this idea. 4 and 5 am are still a little rough on my outline, but I can work through it. Maybe I should start the first chapter..."
Then I slapped my hand and closed the document. I know other people work on multiple stories. Heck, so do I. But I also know it's a dangerous thing to scurry away from a WIP that isn't, well, working when you have a new story begging to be told. Here's the thing: that new story will soon give you just as many problems as the others, mid-way through. I know that. So I'm doing my best to hang onto writer's discipline and finish Entwined, tough as it may be.
What about you? Are you one of those that bounces from story to story? Does it help your creative juices? Or do you find yourself 3/4 of the way through more than one WIP, unsure how to finish because it's hard?
Yeah, it's really hard sometimes...
3 comments:
I tend to bounce.. BUT... I usually bounce between a full length novel and a short story, and that's because writing "THE END" is something that energizes me. So, when I'm stuck on a novel, I hit the short and feel good about writing again.
You'll do it! Though, I have to admit to being ready for another ONI? book.
When is ONIM in print? Soon... right? I need to write it down.
I bounce and nothing gets done.
I always have more than one in process but I generally get obsessed with one at a time and get to a good stopping point then work on the other for a while. I'm currently a bit stuck on my second draft at the end but I'll make myself stick with it until I push through. I do short stories in betwee to keep the creativity flowing, though. Good luck!
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