How do you find the time...

I've been asking that question for a long time, and more so just recently. I have two stories in the editing queue of their respective publishers at the same time. Yes, I know it's minor, but it's the first time I've had to work on two stories simultaneously. That meant the whole of last week was spent reviewing contracts, and edits and getting them back to the publishers before the deadline. Very little new writing happened.

I used to hate editing. In some ways I still hate self-editing. It feels too much like going back. Anyone who travels with me had better make sure they don't forget anything, because if they did, they have to do without for the duration of the trip. I don't stop and I don't go back. My writing is a bit like that too. The only time I stop writing in a project is when I need thinking time, so I can make sure the next bit fits. I have to keep the story in my head all the time or I lose momentum.

So what do I do when an entire week is consumed with edits and I've only just begun a new story? Not only is it a new story but it's one I've written a chapter on - the last chapter - and I have to work backwards from the end. That's doubly tough for me. That's backtracking in a major way and I'm having serious trouble getting my head to stay on task.

Then the edits arrive and the whole thing goes out the window. I'm lucky the edits are minor: a few sentences to reword, a few redundancies to remove. That sort of thing. It's just that, while one is a short story and could be done in an evening, the other was a novel and took the rest of the week to finish.

I lost the story in my head.

If only I could have found the time to do it all. *sigh* Now I need a few days 'think time' to get the story back and make sure it's flowing the right way.

It's a good thing I enjoy sitting on the back deck, staring at the sky.