It struck me today that I am currently spreading myself rather thin when it comes to writing. I am like a hypercaffeinated hummingbird with ADHD as far as writing is concerned, always impatient to get onto the next thing, but at the moment my list of projects is getting slightly overwhelming:
- A short story about a Yeti – currently stalled at about 75% complete – for the second Kindle All Stars anthology.
- A ghost story, which I started as a short story but which is growing at an alarming rate.
- A new one-off 500-1000 word fiction challenge set by Tunbridge Wells Writers.
- The 100 Word Challenge – weekly flash fiction, to keep the brain pliable.
- And of course The Novel. I know, everyone’s writing one, right? Only I’m actually going to finish mine rather than just talk vaguely about it. And I’ve already written one, so I’m not just some internet blowhard. So ner.
I find it helpful to change tack now and then, to maintain freshness in my writing, but I feel as though I’m losing my focus a little. The one I want to write most is the ghost story, which I’m really enjoying, but I know that the weekly 100-word challenge is a great way of sharpening skills, and I definitely want to support anything that the Tunbridge Wells Writers decide to do. Similarly the Kindle All Stars, the first anthology of which was a hugely positive experience. And then of course the one that really matters to me is the novel.
So I’m flitting between each of them, making piecemeal progress every day but completing nothing.
I can’t help but think that this is somehow counterproductive – that rather than building a beautiful and ever-shifting kaleidoscope of fiction my hummingbirdiness is preventing me from submerging myself fully in any one thing – so I think I need to cut something out. Or at least manage my time better.
Or maybe if I just finish one of the bigger ones I’ll feel less restricted by it all, and will be able to narrow my aim.
I don’t know.
So for now, more caffeine!
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Simon John Cox 