Too Many Ideas

What to do when your mind needs to interrupt your work in progress

Well, basically you shouldn’t do what I have done.

Finish finish finish! Always finish your current work in progress. If you get another idea, or other ideas plural, write down the bare bones or the notes and then come back to it when you’ve finished your current work in progress.

Don’t do what I’ve done.

I have abandoned my work in progress TWICE to write something else. Fantasy, if you can believe it!

My current work in progress is a young adult scifi, and I think it’s pretty good as a concept. It’s whether or not I can write it with any skill that will say if it’s a good book or not. But then I had an idea for another 4 books, a series, and jotted them out. That should be fine, shouldn’t it? I did give writing them a go, but I got stuck and returned to my YA work in progress.

But then, I had an idea for a middle grade fantasy story involving a magician quite like the one here pictured.

I’m really quite enamoured with this story, hopefully it would be readable. There is a huge difference in writing middle grade and writing young adult. The writing style is different, the tone is different. Even the subject matter is different, especially in my case where my YA is a sci fi but my MG is a fantasy.

My interests are both in fantasy and science fiction. I also like comedy and police procedurals. I have an eclectic mix of interests and maybe that’s what’s tugging me in different directions with my own writing.

But that’s where I think being as yet unpublished and unsigned is an advantage. I can work on other projects without eating into a deadline and I can explore other ideas.

Of course I want to be a popular children’s author. I want people, not just children, to be entertained and enthralled by what might happen next. I want each chapter to wow and amaze.

So yes, my message is don’t do what I do. Write your notes and stay focused on your current work in progress because the main thing is just to finish finish finish!