Managing writing projects.
So I write. I write a lot. I write, in fact, pretty much compulsively, and I start going rapidly crazy when something prevents me from doing it. I block dialogue while I'm walking. I outline plots on the backs of menus. If there were a Writer's Anonymous, I'd probably have to be a member, because it's just that compulsive, and just that unavoidable, at least where I'm concerned. I've been trying to sell my writing for a while, partially because it eats so much of my time, partially because that would make people stop treating it like a hobby I should be happy to disrupt to do something 'real', and partially because I need something to keep my mind from wandering. It's hard to force myself to keep plugging away after a book has turned difficult -- I know how it ends, after all -- without knowing that someday, it'll have the potential to get further than the fifteen people on my proofing list.
To make matters more fun, I have an annoying tendency to cope with writer's block by starting something completely new. Beginnings are almost always easy for me, after all, and writer's block is brought on by things turning hard. When the goal is actually finishing things, this is marginally...not helpful.
In an effort to make things a little more manageable (and sanity-preserving), I've decided to start basically assigning myself whatever needs to be worked on as a sort of 'homework'. Last week, I assigned myself next-chapter marks on Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues and Grave and Gravy (which lacks a formal chapter structure; there, a chapter is defined as 'a closed segment of no less than thirteen pages'). This worked out pretty well. My assignment for the first part of this week was to hit next-chapter on The Brightest Fell. I did that last night -- surprise! -- so my assignment for the rest of the week is to, once again, hit next-chapter on The Brightest Fell. Maybe I'll finish this book someday.
(Sadly, this meant re-reading roughly eighty pages of The Brightest Fell, because it's been that long since I was reliably working on this book. I now feel like a bad author. Bad. Naughty.)
Next on the assignment list: Newsflesh and Shining Star, as well as more Grave and Gravy.
Let's see how long I can make this work.
To make matters more fun, I have an annoying tendency to cope with writer's block by starting something completely new. Beginnings are almost always easy for me, after all, and writer's block is brought on by things turning hard. When the goal is actually finishing things, this is marginally...not helpful.
In an effort to make things a little more manageable (and sanity-preserving), I've decided to start basically assigning myself whatever needs to be worked on as a sort of 'homework'. Last week, I assigned myself next-chapter marks on Lycanthropy and Other Personal Issues and Grave and Gravy (which lacks a formal chapter structure; there, a chapter is defined as 'a closed segment of no less than thirteen pages'). This worked out pretty well. My assignment for the first part of this week was to hit next-chapter on The Brightest Fell. I did that last night -- surprise! -- so my assignment for the rest of the week is to, once again, hit next-chapter on The Brightest Fell. Maybe I'll finish this book someday.
(Sadly, this meant re-reading roughly eighty pages of The Brightest Fell, because it's been that long since I was reliably working on this book. I now feel like a bad author. Bad. Naughty.)
Next on the assignment list: Newsflesh and Shining Star, as well as more Grave and Gravy.
Let's see how long I can make this work.