by Jim
How do you focus on one project at a time? My problem is I’ll be really into writing for one novel and I’m in it but then I lose my inspiration for it and I get inspired to do something different and I get into that but then I get inspired to do something else and it continues on where it feels really difficult to get anything done. So how do you focus?
Hi Sally,
I don’t.
…
No, I’m actually not even kidding about that. I am a total scatter brain with between 5-10 different processes going through my mind at any given moment. Believe it or not, the first two chapters of Drakin were written while I was finishing up Soul Siphon.
If you’re finding it hard to focus, forcing yourself to won’t solve anything. Unless you have some kind of major deadline coming up, I’d highly recommend against it. Whenever I’m writing and I find my mind going off in a different direction… either there’s a topic I want to blog about or a new story that’s just too good to pass up, I stop what I’m currently working on and spend a few minutes here and there working on that. Does it slow down production of my books? Maybe a little… but not nearly as much as it would if I tried to force my mind to focus and it’s slowed down because the juices have been diverted to other topics.
You can’t always control when your mind is going to get the creative juices flowing. It’s a reality that we all have to live with. There really is no point in fighting it. Make sure you keep yourself on a schedule and try to put some time into your current project every day, but don’t stifle the creative juices. This was a hard-learned lesson for me when I was working on Divinity. I ignored the creative juices to focus on what I was working on and the result was a bad case of writer’s block.
Some may say that this is bad advice, but from my perspective, I believe that it is better than the alternative. Stifling your creative juices will not get your story written any faster. However, keep in mind, this is just how I approach the problem. You may be different and creating a schedule and a place to hide away from outside stimulus so that you have to focus on what you were working on, may benefit you. Try various methods and see what works.
Hope this helps. Readers, how do you focus? Do you have any advice for Sally? Let me know in the comments.
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU
Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!
Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim
James Harringtons Creative Work 
Occasionally I see writing advice online that says, ‘Don’t ever have more than one writing project going at a time. If you do, you’ll never finish any of them.’ There are a half-dozen (soon to be eight) print books on my “trophy shelf” (where I keep copies of books I copyedited for various authors) that say otherwise, because the author of those novels always has more than one WiP going at a time.
This method doesn’t work for everyone, and only you can really know what works best for you. If you actually need to focus on one writing project at a time, for whatever reason, figure out what’s causing you to get distracted. Are you really just more interested in whatever is the most new and shiny, or are you trying to avoid a problem manuscript by not working on it? Do you lose your inspiration because you didn’t have enough of a story idea to make a full-length novel, or are you having trouble motivating your protagonist(s), or have you found yourself more interested in one of the secondary characters and want to write about that person instead?
Maybe what you need to do, at least in the short term, is try writing shorter fiction, stuff that requires less of a commitment to complete. How far are you usually into a manuscript before you start wanting to write something else? That could be a clue about what length story you feel more comfortable writing. If you can focus on a story for around twenty thousand words, try writing something in the 15-20K range. Then, once you’ve proven to yourself that you can focus well enough to finish a novelette, give novels a try again if you want.
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