The Millionaire Matchmaker made up this term to describe what happens when someone should be focusing on one thing but get easily distracted by something shinier and new. Well, I should be finalizing my launch list. I should be working through those edits of the sequel. Heck, I should be sleeping at 2 AM after feeding my daughter, but instead I’m thinking about a new book!
Boy when it hits, it comes out of nowhere. Suddenly one little thought snowballs into a full-fleshed outline and it’s 6 am. Is this inspiration? Procrastination? Sleep deprivation?
Well, whatever it was I couldn’t stop it. I actually had to get out of bed and open my laptop to jot all the details down.
When I woke up I wondered if upon opening up my notes if I they would read like some crazy dream that made sense when you were dreaming it but once you explained it to someone you realized it was nonsense. Thankfully, I still liked my idea in the morning so it wasn’t a total loss. I even began drooling at the thought of writing again.
Writing!
Not polishing, not editing, not rewriting, but writing!
I stopped myself as soon as I opened up a shiny new word document and typed in my title. (I even thought of a title!)
Can you take a break with two books in the series finished and third 2/3’s done and write a whole new novel? Would my readers be angry to have the series delayed? Might I lose momentum or characters if I took this break? Or might I get refreshed by starting something new? Tell my your thoughts or experience with this.
Oh geezo…been there done that!
Why don’t you compromise? Holly Lisle calls it the Busman’s holiday. Say you work on your series three or four days out of the week. Come Friday, you get to work on this new novel as a reward. Lisle says it totally raised her productivity rates. 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever worked on two different pieces at once. I wonder if I would start to merge some of the characters after a while. But I can’t knock it until I try it, especially if others actually feel it raises their productivity! Your right, I should make a schedule.
Right. It’s worth giving a try. And i think if you make a schedule, you probably won’t have the merging problem.
Hmm I think that if you are really craving to work on a whole new story, I would go for it and start writing that to let some of the inpsiration flow out. Then go back and work on your sequel.
Yesenia makes a good suggestion too! You could treat yourself to the new novel as a Friday reward. I tend to cheat more though. 🙂
I once tried the writing two books at once thing and it became overwhelming. I would go to sleep at night and have not one but two different plots floating around in my head. Each day I’d sit at the comp and wonder which book was going to take over my brain. After some time I gave up and pushed myself to stick to one. I was afraid that I would never actually finish one and that I’d have two stuck in limbo. I’m happy to report I focused enough and finished one and am now facing your same issue. Do I write the sequel and move my characters along their path or do I take back on the book I left in the dust all those years ago? During this decision, my imaginiation has taken over and created another option…a story that has only been quickly jotted down but calls to me every time I think about sitting down and writting. What I try to remember is, books aren’t written in a day. You sign on for a long long long road that at times you want to bail on and take on another option (least I have that problem). Sooooo, in the end, I’ll probably want to walk away from whatever option I pick but maybe the question I need to focus on is…what’s best for the book I’ve already started and finshed. This might be mental but I feel my characters deserve a say in this decision.
What would yours say?