Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Switching

Recently, after finishing my read aloud of MALICE, I realized something: I was sick to death of it. Not that I think it’s bad or I’m giving up on it. I just can’t stand the sight of it for a while. I need a break. Well, from it.

So, this means I’m going back to REMEMBER. Remember that (pun intended)? I started on MALICE several months ago because I realized I was tired of it. One of my goals for this month is to finally get around to doing the read aloud for book R that I made a goal for months ago. I intend to start this week, barring any unforeseen circumstances, like a mysterious bout of laryngitis or something. Knock on wood.

I like having multiple projects to work on for just this reason. Often I get to a point where I need a break from a book I’m working on. What better way to take said break than by working on something else, something completely different? I was so glad to put REMEMBER away for a while—now I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. Man, I hope this feeling lasts.

Question time: what do you do when you’re sick of your WIP? Do you move on to something else? Take a break from writing entirely? Do you think ending a blog post with questions is a cop out or a good way to elicit responses? I realize that last question is a little off topic, but sometimes I just get curious.

7 comments:

  1. Ending with a question is supposed to be the best thing to do in a blog post because it sparks conversation.
    I have a difficult time switching between projects, so I just work on one at a time. The only time I grow sick of a project is during the first draft. At that point, I just want it done and on paper.

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  2. Hi Jeanne .. I don't end my blog posts with a question - never have.

    I do change to do something different if I'm tired of something - clears the head (theoretically) or I put the procrastination plate down and get on with things ...

    Good luck though ... cheers Hilary

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  3. Every time I have worked on more than one first draft -- switching back and forth between them -- one of them ended up stomping the other. It would WIN my attention, and the other project would fade away to become one of the great swamp of unfinished stories.

    Now, once I had books under contract, I HAD to work on more than one project at a time, but they were usually in different stages.

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  4. It sounds best to take a break from it for awhile.

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  5. I'm curious as to who says the questions are the best way to get conversations going. Personally, I hate them. Your post ought to be able to spark the conversation; if it's not able to do the job, you haven't written a good post.

    At this point, I have never gotten sick of anything that I was working on. I do usually work on multiple projects but not because I want to.

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  6. I used to work on one project at a time. Writing and knitting. Then I discovered the joys of being able to switch to something new when the project I was working on annoyed me. Since then, I have a couple things going at any one time just so I can switch between them when one starts to annoy me.

    I like having questions when I can't think of anything to comment on from a blog post, but I'll ignore them if I have something that I want to say.

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  7. Since I usually only work on one book at a time, I take a break and do something else... like read for pleasure or go on a family outing or some other real life task (clean out a closet, organize files, write blog posts, etc.). Switching sounds good, if that works for you. :)

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Please validate me.