transitioning to the next project, how do you do it?

[kdbleu]

I’m getting my mystery novel ready for cold readers (keep your eyes peeled for that post - one day) so I’m thinking about what comes next. I write daily. And by writing I mean writing or editing, not planning or outlining. And by daily I mean I write on the “thing” I’m writing, which for the past year and a half has been my mystery. When I send it

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[ecstaticdance]

I wrote whatever was grabbing me until I found one that kept my attention and had an "ending". I have a few partial things that I toyed with between my short story and finding my current project that I've hung onto just in case I feel inspired by them again. But I really had to get in and explore things before I could settle on something. I've got an idea or two this time around for "what comes next" once I'm done with "book 3", so I can hope for less floundering, but I really don't expect it.

[kdbleu]

and had an "ending"

This is a hard one for me on good day. I didn't know the ending of my murder mystery. BUT it also makes a great deal of sense. I know that the idea I had before I started my mystery floundered because I didn't even think about an ending. And the nearly finished novel I write before that has an ending but no middle. Not sure that makes sense, but it's good advice. So maybe I don't need to know who the killer is when I start, but I need to know the killer will be caught. ;)

And I need to accept that I'm going to flounder.

[ecstaticdance]

Yeah, that's why I put ending in quotes. :)

[kdbleu]

hee.

And having at least a direction is why I'm working with the world I am. The Weather Planet has a 'event' looming and character arcs.

[embolalia]

When I first finished a draft to send readers, I started writing basically fic about my book - little snippets of stories about the characters that didn't really belong in the book but that helped me figure out more about them. Finally I distracted myself with outlining/drabbling another project, which was good. Getting some distance from the book helped, at least for me, to be able to come back to it a few months later without being so close to it. I'd go with whatever excites you most to work on more, but that's just me :)

[kdbleu]

I started writing basically fic about my book

hee. This is what I'm trying to avoid, only I'm calling it a sequel. ;) But a sequel feel like getting way ahead of myself.

I do like the idea of drabbling my Weather Planet idea. You wrote drabbles for chapters, right?