Learning to Dual-Wield
One of the things I've always wanted to be able to do but never managed is work on more than one book at the same time. I wrote the Alumita books in between Ashes books, but it was always all-or-nothing; I never bounced back and forth.
The Ashes books took up a lot of real estate in my mind, and the first three were the first novels I ever wrote. They were hard to compartmentalize, and I think I sometimes felt like if I ever split my attention I would never get the characters back. Midnight Magic was a needed break from the series, and the characters came back just fine; I even missed them a little. It taught me I could write more than one story, just never on the same day, or even on alternate days.
The biggest thing I learned, however, was that having something else to work on was remarkably freeing, a kind of escape hatch for when things weren't working. That was how Midnight started: a break from what would become Colours of Dawn.
Recently, I've been allowing myself to do that more and more, and it's starting to become normal. That's how you build habits, I guess, but it wasn't really my intention.
One thing that has helped is to have the books in different stages or states. Right now I have three books I'm actively working on -- one I have outlined, one I am feeling my way through, and one that is still in the research/series bible-creation phase. If I get stuck on one for whatever reason, I jump to the other. Sometimes it takes a minute to get my bearings, but so far I've had much more success than ever before at juggling multiple projects. I think having the one in the research phase helps. There's no pressure to write, I can just do research and brainstorm, which is still writing, just in a different form. It gives my brain time to chew on things in the background while still being productive, and that is the kind of permission I think I needed to give myself.
So how is it going? Pretty good! For example, I was having a pretty 'meh' day on the drafting front, so I switched to brainstorming mode and ended up solving a huge problem with a single decision that suddenly seemed obvious! One I had been beating my head against the wall trying to come up with for a while. Getting away from it, doing something else and coming back freed things up in ways that trying to force it never did. Having the projects be distinct from each other helps, too. One is my first attempt at doing a first-person narrative, and that's pretty hard to confuse with any of the others.
From thinking I couldn't do it to wondering why I ever thought that, I think this new way of working can be best summed up as 'freeing'. Not being locked into one thing and knowing I can hit the ground running (and that here is ground) if I need to bail has made the whole process feel more agile, and honestly better for my brain. Things are always fresh, and moments of satisfaction more frequent. I don't feel stagnant or tired as much anymore, either.
So if things aren't working and you're feeling stuck, give another one of your ideas a spin and see what happens! Change is good, and progress is progress, and you just might end up doing something you've never done before. And more of it! Just remember to go back -- who knows what you've figured out in the meantime? Only you, and only if you don't give up.
The Ashes books took up a lot of real estate in my mind, and the first three were the first novels I ever wrote. They were hard to compartmentalize, and I think I sometimes felt like if I ever split my attention I would never get the characters back. Midnight Magic was a needed break from the series, and the characters came back just fine; I even missed them a little. It taught me I could write more than one story, just never on the same day, or even on alternate days.
The biggest thing I learned, however, was that having something else to work on was remarkably freeing, a kind of escape hatch for when things weren't working. That was how Midnight started: a break from what would become Colours of Dawn.
Recently, I've been allowing myself to do that more and more, and it's starting to become normal. That's how you build habits, I guess, but it wasn't really my intention.
One thing that has helped is to have the books in different stages or states. Right now I have three books I'm actively working on -- one I have outlined, one I am feeling my way through, and one that is still in the research/series bible-creation phase. If I get stuck on one for whatever reason, I jump to the other. Sometimes it takes a minute to get my bearings, but so far I've had much more success than ever before at juggling multiple projects. I think having the one in the research phase helps. There's no pressure to write, I can just do research and brainstorm, which is still writing, just in a different form. It gives my brain time to chew on things in the background while still being productive, and that is the kind of permission I think I needed to give myself.
So how is it going? Pretty good! For example, I was having a pretty 'meh' day on the drafting front, so I switched to brainstorming mode and ended up solving a huge problem with a single decision that suddenly seemed obvious! One I had been beating my head against the wall trying to come up with for a while. Getting away from it, doing something else and coming back freed things up in ways that trying to force it never did. Having the projects be distinct from each other helps, too. One is my first attempt at doing a first-person narrative, and that's pretty hard to confuse with any of the others.
From thinking I couldn't do it to wondering why I ever thought that, I think this new way of working can be best summed up as 'freeing'. Not being locked into one thing and knowing I can hit the ground running (and that here is ground) if I need to bail has made the whole process feel more agile, and honestly better for my brain. Things are always fresh, and moments of satisfaction more frequent. I don't feel stagnant or tired as much anymore, either.
So if things aren't working and you're feeling stuck, give another one of your ideas a spin and see what happens! Change is good, and progress is progress, and you just might end up doing something you've never done before. And more of it! Just remember to go back -- who knows what you've figured out in the meantime? Only you, and only if you don't give up.
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