Saturday 4 February 2012

Work in Progress?

I wish to ask this question to anyone who drops by: How many projects do you work on simultaneously?
I'm making this enquiry because at the moment I seem to be juggling six projects at the same time.
1. Rewriting racy Regency romance
2. Editing an old book in order to send it to a digital publisher.
3. Rewriting/editing a World War II romantic suspense.
4. Polishing finished manuscript to send to agents.
5. Final edits on young adult urban fantasy.
6. Final edits for Regency romance for Musa/Aurora.
Needless to say I'm not getting any one of them finished satisfactorily. The final edits for Musa obviously take priority, but I still can't settle to anyone of the above. I've actually done all the rewrites and editing on hardcopy for the first item on the list but am finding it increasingly difficult to transfer this information onto computer.
I know several friends who are writers who are already making notes for the next book whilst finishing writing the current one. This makes sense to me, if you're bursting with ideas for a great story you need to keep the momentum going.
I think my problem at the moment is that I'm not working on anything new. I made the decision in the New Year to finish all the books I had loafing around on my computer and bring them up to a publishable standard. It's now February and I haven't managed to complete any one of the six projects.
Maybe I'll put them all to one side and start something new- well, I would if I had a story bursting to be written. Unfortunately my mind is so full of these already written stories that there's no room for anything else.
What do you think? Should I abandon my decision or keep juggling until all six of them are cleaned and polished and ready to go out into the harsh world?
Fenella

3 comments:

  1. I work one one and if I get bored of it, I go back to anything else I have got going on.

    In your case why not work on two at a time and when they are done, pair up another two. That way you will not get bored and your active mind can settle.

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  2. I can work on up to three things - usually writing a draft and editing a draft of a longer work. But I sneak some short stories in there too. I need the variety I think - it's how my brain works.

    Maybe don't think of all six at once. Maybe have one or two that you work on most of the time, and another one to break that up when you need some time away. And then just move them along as the projects finish.

    Good luck with whatever you decide.

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  3. Excellent advice, ladies. I've decided to finish the Regency, plus do any edits for Musa. I've even written what I want to achieve in my dairy. I love being able to cross out the chapters as I do them. Two yesterday and one so far today.If I can keep this up I'll finish the first project by the end of next week!!

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