Writing Rut

I've been going through something of a writing rut lately.  No, I'm not out of ideas.  The problem is that I have too many ideas.  Every time I sit down to write I want to be working on four or five projects at once.  

No, I don't think it's ADD.  I think it's more just excitement.  I get so excited over all these things that could be published and will, of course, be the thing that makes me a bestselling author (ha!) that I find it hard to focus on just one project.

So the current result is that I have a whole bunch of active projects (ones that I'm actually writing as opposed to just sitting in the idea bank) but none of them are finished.  Annoying!

I think the problem is compounded by the fact that I write short stories.  In theory, I could crack out a whole bunch at once.  It's like the instant gratification writing of instant gratification ebook selling.  I basically created a psychological monster.

Anyone else going through/have gone through this?  Any tips?

Comments

  1. Kevis HendricksonMarch 21, 2012 at 4:59 PM

    I totally feel your pain, Alain. My brain's crowded with so many ideas, I want to write hundred books at once all in different genres. So I came to the conclusion that I'd have to start mixing things up. No more orphan genres. For the foreseeable future I'll be writing the literary equivalent of Frankenstein's monster. Don't know if it'll work for you. But it's worth a shot! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alain GomezMarch 21, 2012 at 6:46 PM

    Haha! Oh no.... then it'd be even MORE projects to deal with! Like coming up with new genres lol.

    So what are you combining?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kevis HendricksonMarch 21, 2012 at 7:35 PM

    Good question. A little bit of everything:

    1. sci-fi/horror/supernatural thriller
    2. sci-fi/exploitation/mobster story,
    3. anime/sci-fi/fantasy/rpg/mythology/
    4. fantasy/romance/poetry/new age
    5. urban fantasy/military sf/musical

    Okay, the last one was a joke. But I think you get the idea. I guess what it all means in the end is we need to quit our day jobs or learn to write faster!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bradley ConvissarMarch 22, 2012 at 10:19 AM

    I just started writing a novel after publishing 26 shorts and 4 novellas, and it's tearing me up. Two months,40K words, and I'm only half done. I get bored easily, that's why I love novells and shorts. You get to write so many more different stories in the same amount of time, and never spend so much time on one story that you get bored. I could have written 2 novellas and 1 or 2 shorts in the same time. But... I understand that to actually make it big as a writer, you need to writes novels. It's the truth. And to be honest,I have two dozen book concepts. But I also have three dozen or so short story/novella ideas. Man, if I could write full trime, I would spend 2-3 hours workign on a novel and 1-2 hours a day to work on shorter stories. But as I write this novel(which I know will take another month to write, then 2 months to edit, then another 1-2 months to edit after an editor gets done), I have a diozen other stories just scremaing to be told. I almost wish I was jobless and living at home with my parents...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alain GomezMarch 22, 2012 at 11:52 AM

    @Kevis and Bradley

    But I'm not sure joblessness would help lol. I don't know about you guys but every time I have a long weekend or mini at-home vacation I think: "Yes! I'll spend the next few days doing nothing but writing!" 4 days slip by.... and the only thing that improved is my beer tasting skills.

    It's almost like the pressure of NOT being able to write sometimes helps with the writing?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kevis HendricksonMarch 22, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    You could be on to something. Writing is such a solitary activity, that sometimes you can't help but feel as if there's something else you want to do (especially imbibing). Then the muse starts calling and you end up slavishly sitting at your computer screen hacking away at your next book. My solution? Borrow a page from Hemingway and get the drinking out of the way first! :P

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alain GomezMarch 22, 2012 at 11:58 PM

    *looks at empty beer glass* Uhh.... yeah! What he said!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kevis HendricksonMarch 23, 2012 at 1:08 AM

    LOL!

    ReplyDelete

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