Juggling

I'm not the type of writer who can juggle projects, and the reason for that being that when my attention is torn between so many stories I find it hard to sit down and get them finished. Naturally, when you start writing a story you want to follow it through from the beginning and right to the end. If you have more then one project, which means a variety of characters, and different plots . . . well, it's going to get confusing, isn't it? Characters might start sounding the same, which you can't have. Plots may collide and get ruined . . . Juggling isn't the best idea, or at least it isn't for me.

In saying that I am very envious of the writers who are able to juggle projects. In reading interviews and talking to these writers I have heard them say the same thing "it keeps their minds active and ideas fresh."

Envious. Envious. Envious.

I find myself on a daily basis comparing myself to other writers. I wonder why writing comes so easy to them when I go through phases where I am so stuck I want to bang my head against a wall. In these moments I often find it shocking that I have managed to complete eight books. At least the fact that I have is a sign that I will get out of these phases, eventually.

I don't know how other writers deal with dry patches, which is what I am having, because I refuse to say it is writers block. I know for a fact it isn't that. I want to write. I'm itching to, but at the current moment I find myself torn between which project I should work on. And isn't that just ridiculous? I'm torn between which of my projects to work on. You would think it would be easy, but for some reason it isn't. I suppose the fact that I am a panster, and a very bad one at that, doesn't help.

So, I thought to myself if I'm going to be torn anyway, and at the moment little to no writing has happened due to this - and the fact that I was playing catch-up, but I finally have a handle on that - why the heck shouldn't I juggle projects? Why shouldn't I do a little work on each of them each week until either one of them grabs me by the throat and demands I write, or I end up finishing a couple of stories at once. Either way I will be writing and finishing some new material, which I really want to do, because despite the fact I am finding it difficult to settle on the projects my muse is still showing me new story ideas. Great ideas that I would love to work on, but can't since I have books to write that are a priority at the moment.

My muse is a pain in the ass. Not that I'm complaining, because it is better to have ideas, write them down, and save them for later, than to never have any. It's just my typical luck that she wants to feed me when I am full.

Well, wish me luck. I have no idea if this is going to work for me, but I have to try something.

How do you cope when you have patches where you're either a) stuck with a story, b) can't write for a particular reason, or c) basically kicking yourself because compared to other authors you're rather rubbish?