one at a time?
At any one given point over the last days, I’ve found myself with at least three different Word docs open. Scary thing is, I’m actually working on all three, although it comes out to be more like, working on one main doc while puttering with the other two when the whim strikes.
That will happen at odd times - I’ll be writing along happily on the main story and suddenly I’ll find myself writing something that would not come out of that particular hero’s mouth. Mainly, because it’ll be another hero’s backstory or something and it’ll take me a minute to figure out what the heck’s happening. And then I’ll just stick that into one of the more skeletal WIPs and move back into the main document.
Hey - it works for me. It just makes the time I spend finishing each book longer than it would be if I just blew out a book at once, which definitely irks my patience gene.
Can you work on more than one story in tandem, or do you stick with one story at a time?
Steph T.
March 9th, 2006 at 10:50 am
I tend to stick to one story at a time
March 9th, 2006 at 11:37 am
One story - multiple ideas going though. Louis L’Amour worked on FIVE stories at the same time. Sheesh.:shock:
March 9th, 2006 at 11:51 am
I can barely handle one at a time some days. I can’t even imagine doing more than that!
March 9th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Ahem. There are 6 days remaining until the 15th.
March 9th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Nope, can’t do it. I’ve tried and I feel like I get absolutely NOTHING done. If a story teases me, I’ll stop and write down whatever pops up but I can’t multi task well.
March 9th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I’ve been known to work on 3 at a time.
But eventually one seems to take over, and I wind up focusing on that one (as the other two scream in the background).
March 9th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Bonnie - I really try and stick with one. Just never seems to work out.:LOL:
Eve - I can understand Mr. L’Amour’s process. I really can.
LMAO @ Emma!
I’m writing, Alison - am writing!!
Cece - my method’s similar in a way - because if I don’t write down what’s nagging me about / from the other story, I’ll never move ahead on what I’m trying to do.
Well, yeah, Raine - I can’t be surprised. Maybe it’s an Aries thing…:lol:
March 9th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
With my life lately - working on one is a challenge, but normally, I can only work on one during a sitting, but I have a scratch pad for any ideas that pop up for the other(s). Right now I have two WIPs, though one is getting more work than the other.
And who says it’s only an Aries thing? I’m technically a Capricorn - and it seems to work that way for me too.
March 9th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
I’ve always worked on one at a time before…Yet uhmm right now I have three going and I’m not quite sure how it happened. :???:
March 9th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
I always have two going and I try to alternate between them. Whenever I have a historical going, I usually needed something less intense to work on.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I have done that in the past, but if I want to finish a book it has to be one at a time. I’m not patient enough to do otherwise.
March 9th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
ROFL! I am SO not the person to ask. When I actually am writing, I have been known to hop around more than a Mexican jumping bean.
March 9th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
I’ll work on more than one at a time to a point, and then I focus on one until it’s finished. When a book reaches a certain critical mass, it needs total focus. But until that point I found I doubled my productivity by working on more than one thing. If that makes sense.
March 9th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
I’ll be editing one, writing another and jotting down ideas for a third; that way, I always have work bubbling away.
March 9th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
I like to juggle no more than three at a time, unless an editor calls to apologize for disturbing me during my writing time but oh dear production decided to move the book up three months on the schedule and could I possibly turn it in a little earlier, like tomorrow?
However many windows I have open, I keep an eye my wordcount for what I’m scheduled to write, and if I’m lagging, I close the other windows and write solo-story for the rest of the day.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
PJ - Capricorns are cool people:wink:
Sasha - welcome to the dark side. Hopefully Cece will bake us some cookies.
Rene - I get that - even though I techinically write in the same area of romance, I do try and work on something that’s a little lighter when I’m working on something with a dark edge to it.
Tori is an honorary Aries…
Charlene - it does make sense. I do the same, because then I feel like at least I’m moving ahead on something - helps when you get stuck on one book.
*waves to Jaye* Yay! Another one who’s hanging out on the dark side.
PBW - that’s a great idea. I’ve been having trouble setting daily word counts for myself, since I never seem to make them. I’ll make up the word count I schedule for the week in a few days, but I really need to utilize those other days better.