Finally, Inspiration Strikes! But...

I've been having a lot of epiphanies lately about several of my projects. Major, breakthrough epiphanies. Things I have been stuck on for MONTHS. Problems I haven't known how to fix. Plot holes that were so deep I thought there was no fixing them. And then, all of a sudden, for no logical reason at all, I've had these strokes of super-insight and BAM! Inspiration strikes. I've got answers to questions I didn't know I had. Motivations I didn't know I needed. New directions I didn't know I wanted to take. And a few fixes I knew I needed to boot :)

I'm thrilled. Elated. Over the flipping moon excited to implement these changes.

One problem....

None of these epiphanies apply to my current project :D Because of all the stucky-suckiness I've been experiencing regarding my current novel-in-progress, I put it aside for awhile and decided to work on a short story I've been wanting to write. And I've been editing (again and again) the picture book I'm working on with the amazing Lisa Amowitz (who is running an AWESOME contest on her blog today. Head over!)

I am about 2 scenes from finishing the short story (life got in the way for a few days. Hopefully we are back on track today). Yet, instead of finishing the dang thing, I'm having creative bursts of literary awesomeness for a book I haven't touched in months.

Honestly, I think I have issues with finishing projects and I'm starting to think this is my brain's way of preventing me from finishing yet another one.

"Oooo almost done with that story, are you? Well take THIS *throws inspiration mojo for another book* Mwahahahaha!"

Well, crazy little mixed up brain. Joke's on you. I've taken lots of notes. I'm going to finish this short story THIS WEEK and then....then, I'm diving head first into that poor, neglected WIP of mine and finishing THAT too. Thanks for the motivation. Sincerely, Me :)

Do you ever have this happen? Get sudden inspiration for one project while working on another one? What do you do? Do you abandon one for the other, or finish Project B before going back to Project A?

Blog Chain - Multitasking All The Way!!

Back on the blog chain. We have several new members joining us so I'd like to give a huge welcome to Amanda Bonilla, Sarah Bromley, Shaun David Hutchinson, Rebecca Knight, and Bonny Anderson. We are so excited to have you guys with us!!

This round's topic was chosen by our wonderful Terri. She wanted to know:

Do you focus on one project at a time, or do you have many irons in the fire at any given moment?

Bonny answered this question before me and Shaun is up next so be sure to visit their blogs to hear their take on this question.

As for me, well, if you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m one of those “many irons in the fire” type girls. I will get on a roll sometimes, with one project or another, and focus specifically on one thing for a few days, weeks, or even months at a time. But for the last several months at least I’ve had at least two projects going on at all times; my YA Urban Fantasy, and my non-fiction book.

Because fiction and non-fiction belong in such completely different worlds, switching back and forth presents no problems for me. What I’m working on at any given moment is mostly dictated by my children. I don’t need to concentrate as much with my non-fiction. It comes much easier. So I be on the computer working on it while my kids are running around screaming and climbing all over me. If I’m going to work on fiction while the kids are awake, I write by hand. They don’t bug me as much and I can follow them from room to room (or outside) scribbling away while they play.

It is also nice to have more than one project going because if I get stuck on one, I switch to the other. Focusing my mind on something different usually frees it up and the answer for whatever had me stuck very often comes to me while working on something else.

If I’m stuck on everything, I either do research for a project or I take a break from novels and textbooks and write a children’s picture book. I love doing these. I can do them quickly and they are so much fun to do. My kids and I will often write them together, so it’s something writing related that I can do and still include them, and at the end of the day, I’ve got a completed creative project…whether it’s my main project or not.

I don’t know if I could have two projects of the same genre going at the same time. Probably not…I have enough trouble staying in the right character’s voice at any given time without mixing in more than one main character. I definitely have ideas for several same-genre projects going on at the same time. This is where that research comes in – if I’m stuck on one thing, I’ll research either info I need for a current project, or something that will go straight in my idea file.

Having more than one project is actually kind of relaxing for me. I know I always have something to work on. If I finish something or get stuck on something, I know there is always something else I can work on. That way, none of my time is wasted because no matter what I’m doing, it is accomplishing something, be it for current or future projects.