About a month ago, I read a blog post that really spoke to me. Are You a Renaissance Soul? Use It to Your Advantage. I easily answered yes to the initial questions. Once again, I am recognizing and accepting. I took some time thinking about my answers to the rest of the questions posed, and here’s my musings.
How long can I work until I get antsy?
An hour at a time. Any more than that and my attention wanders. On a day to day basis, NaNoWriMo has shown me that I tend to get distracted after about two intense weeks on one project.
How would I react if I was told that I had to work on 1 thing until it gets done?
My urge would be to rebel, and every other project would seem more exciting than the one I have to do. I don’t like should and have to. I would likely have a secret project to at least make notes on.
What about 2 things? 3? 4? Find your optimal number
Four seems to stretch it. I wouldn’t be making enough progress to make it worthwhile. With two I’d still risk getting bored. So three feels like it will be a good balance.
Where do you feel the biggest sense of accomplishment/happiness/growth: starting a project, working on it, or finishing it?
Working on a project. I thrive off that sense of progress. The process of creation. Seeing my ideas come to fruition. I love the sense of discovery, all the things that surprise me despite having plotted the basic story. Starting is always hard, intimidating. Finishing may have a nice rush, but it’s accompanied by a sadness as the story is no longer new and fresh to my own eyes.
What structure will let me live in that place the longest?
After answering the previous questions, I believe I will be most comfortable working on three projects at a time. Since I have the freedom of not answering to an agent or editor, I can get away with multitasking.
Conclusion:
As super excited as I am about Twilight Rain, I’m going to let that one simmer a bit longer. Finish at least one of my other projects first. I have three stories that are hovering around the 30,000 words mark: Trinity Coven, Race to 100 Deaths, and The Minotaur Staff. It will be an awesome rush if I can make progress on all three of those each week. By some logic, it will take me longer to finish a WIP this way. In reality, it will be more productive to switch between projects when I get bored or stuck, rather than stress over one story and go a month or more without writing anything.
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