Hello friends. Have you ever gotten near to the end of a project, and all of a sudden every other project is super interesting?
Or, in the case of my current brain, all of a sudden, there are new ideas everywhere. I’ve written more new things into my idea file in the last week than probably the last six months combined.
Why do we do this? (Or maybe it’s just me?) While I’m close to the end of my revision (we’re firmly in Act 3 now) I still probably have at least a month more, maybe two. And that’s only going to get longer if I get distracted by every shiny thing my brain finds for me.
And, holy cow, my brain is actively searching for shiny things. They’re everywhere.
And you know that if I gave in and actually switched to one of these new projects, my brain would also give up on that one, or try to redirect me to something else, or decide now is an excellent time for a fanfiction hyperfixation.
(oh no, I’m giving myself ideas.)
Is this normal? I know other writing friends have this happen, but arguably no writer is normal, so this is a terrible litmus.
If you too get distracted in the home stretch or find that you’re actively sabotaging yourself, what do you do to counteract it?
My current technique is to tell myself that as soon as I finish my revision I’ll dedicate a month to chaos, where we can outline and start and maybe even write stories to my heart’s content. Unfettered creativity. Absolutely rolling in it.
So far it’s working but I can feel the distractions all there, lingering at the edges, waiting for weakness. Waiting to swoop in and kill what momentum I have left.
Wish me luck, friends.
Oh, only every dang time…but I’m one of those weird writers, so you probably guessed that.
You can do this! I have faith in you!
Oh yes. Every day I get hit with something new and shiny. Just today in fact, the idea for Bound’s sequel I’ve been struggling with finally gelled – about four months too late – and now I really want to work on that. But I have the antho story (which needs work…like yesterday), my Radish story, my main WIP, and several others that have been patiently waiting. Yeah. So they all want their turn. And there’s just not enough time and — the bane of our existence, amiright?
My muse likes to show up when I’ve hit a rough patch and am feeling like the work I am doing has gotten boring or tedious or just too hard to do. It’s really tempting to just run off and play, and sometimes I do. Sometimes I really need a break. But I usually have something I’m trying to achieve — finish this scene, this chapter, this draft — and I usually stick with it until I’ve met my goal. I collect up the ideas for later and hope I’ll still find them exciting when I get there.