Does this happen to anyone else?

[temporus]

I'm somewhere deep in the novel, around 60K words.  Now, as I'm trying to focus, so I can turn the corner and start moving toward my ending, I am being hijacked daily with new story ideas.  Sometimes more than one a day.

Really, this is getting a bit tedious, because they aren't just ideas, but now I'm getting specific thoughts and ideas milling around my head that might actually be useful towards stories for some themed anthologies.

I was considering breaking down my writing time into discrete chunks.  One time to work on the novel and keep that moving with my self mandated daily word goals.  Then a second time to work on various other writing projects.  I've never tried it before, and not sure if it would work, or crash and burn badly.*  

Anyone else out there have a strategy for simultaneously working on multiple writing projects?  Do you think it's a good idea?  Do you think it's better to just focus everything on reaching the end of the novel, then trying to go back and work on the shorts?  Do you have other suggestions?

Comments

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

I can't work on more than one thing at a time, but sometimes I switch projects. Especially when the major project has reached a point where it needs research, pondering, or other forms of non-writing work.

I liken it to cooking Thanksgiving dinner: while the rolls are rising and the turkey is in the oven, there's plenty of time to make fruit salad.

[temporus.livejournal.com]

So far, the closest I've come to working on multiple projects is taking a short break to write either a blog entry or a short article for my writer's group newsletter. But that's about it. Not sure I can translate that into multiple stories, but perhaps I can if the stories are short enough.

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

The important thing isn't whether you can switch projects, it's knowing which way your mind and muse work in the present circumstances. If multiple projects aren't your thing, then just ignore the new stuff, or make a few notes and move on with your main project.

One thing I've found over the years is that often these shiny new ideas aren't nearly as good as they seem when they flash their enticing little sparklies in my brain. I go after them, find nothing there, and then have trouble getting back to my original project. Sometimes when I make notes, when I go back, the idea is flat and dead. I used to think, "Oh, no, I killed it by ignoring it!" But more and more I suspect that they weren't strong enough to live in the first place.

Experiment with it if you want, but if that's not the way your mind works, you aren't likely to get much from it. And it seems like a bad time to be experimenting.

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

p.s. Didn't mean to get preachy there. I'm writing several things at once here :p and didn't skip to friend mode from essay mode very well.

[temporus.livejournal.com]

That's a potential for trouble for sure, shinies that distract, but have no substance, like a will-o-the-wisp that leads you into a quagmire.

I think though, that's why I'd be curious to try and make it a dedicated separate writing time. So I'd have my normal daily goal on current WIP of 500 words. Once that session is complete, take a break, do a bit of something else to "cleanse the palate" then sit down fresh with alternate projects.

Will this work? No clue. It is, in general how I tend to do blog posts and short articles. The only real difference is the nature of the writing.

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it's worth a try. It fits in with your normal working patterns, which is a good sign :D

I tend to be in either hyperfocus mode, or hyperdistractability. It's not so much that it's difficult for me to shift gears the way you're doing, it's that I forget I need to shift :p