The Lure of Too Many Ideas

I turned Grave Touched in to my editor on Jan. 1st, and have been between projects since then.  I wanted to work on something, anything, so I started thinking about what I could work on until my edits on GT hit.  I decided to write a novella in the Reaper Girl universe and resurrect a languishing novel that needed a rewrite (but only on Sundays.  It’s a long story).  I also wanted to start Fey Touched book 3, Ever Touched, sometime soon so there would hopefully not be three years between it and GT.  With me so far?

But then I wondered.  I have a lot of ideas just floating around, and haven’t had much time to develop them properly.  I’ve got a novella (Awaken Me, as part of my Year of No Fear) and a novel (Soulfire) which I started and haven’t been able to work on.  I’ve got five (FIVE!) new ideas that have occurred me within the past few months.

And add those to my increasing list of to-be-written stories?  I’ve got at least thirty.  Maybe more.

The. Ideas. Won’t. Stop.

What’s scary is that I could start any one of them right now, today.  Even though over half need to be developed and worldbuilt and loosely plotted.  But the problem is this: I can’t get too wrapped up in anything because GT edits are coming.  And will be happening up till its release in May.  And that’s not counting cover art, which I’m doing myself (for the first time, no less!).

Fireborn, the Reaper Girl novella, is just the sort of quick and dirty (and hopefully doesn’t turn into a novel! Ye Gods!) project for me to work on in the interim.  Except lately?  I’ve been feeling meh about it.  I thought about maybe working on an unfinished novel/novella on the side, just to keep things interesting.

The problem with this is I am not a fast writer by any stretch.  If I put out one novel a year, I’m doing amazingly well.  GT took almost three years, but my eye thing was to blame for that.  Still, it took me over a year to get the rewrite done.  I could write two novels concurrently, which I am seriously considering, if my brain can take it.  (I’d done it before, but I was much younger and not dealing with chronic eye pain).  That might help me put out more new stuff.  I see all these writers publishing multiple books a year and I feel like a snail.  Part of why I’m so slow is my wrists.  If I overdo my typing (writing + day job), my wrists get cranky.  In 2003, I was sure I had carpal tunnel syndrome.  Luckily, I didn’t, it was just severe tendonitis, but I learned my lesson (although back then?  Ergonomics really wasn’t a thing).  I’ve dictated two novels by voice recognition, and have plans to do it more, but my writer brain still prefers typing.  And then there’s my process, which is slower than slow.  Put those two together, and it’s not a pretty picture.

But these are the circumstances I’ve got, and I’m lucky to be writing at all.  Two years ago I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to write again.  Severe eye pain is a muse killer.  So, I have to live with what I have.

Usually, I make notes on all my promising ideas.  Sometimes I just try to remember, which is getting a bit more difficult as I get older.  I’ve got a list up in front of me of all my ideas/ongoing projects broken down by priority.  It’s not a matter of staying on task.  It’s a matter of what the hell am I working on next?  What would be best for my career?  Should I write another novel for TDP?  Should I start another series?  What story speaks to me right now?

Unfortunately, the answers are all over the place: Fireborn.  Not sure what’s best yet.  I want to write something for TDP.  Maybe I should consider another series (or trilogy).  Many stories are speaking to me, so much that they are drowning each other out.

So what’s a writer to do?

Play with them.  Make friends.  Give them a few minutes of brain space.

And hope they don’t kill each other, or decide to uh, multiply.