I made a commitment last summer. I swore I would be true. I would forsake all others... But now temptation is pushing me hard to ignore any pledge I might have made in the heat of the moment.
I've always struggled with creative monogamy. One idea will seize me and I am all aflutter. My heart races and I'm in love. I have goose-bumps and I can't concentrate on anything else until.... that next idea comes along.
I'll try to stay focused on my current love but then that new idea starts calling to me. The next thing I know, I'm journaling about my new idea- the characters start to take shape and plot lines start to connect. But I'll resist entering the story. At this point, it's just a harmless flirtation.
Then I take those furtive first steps- just a sentence, then a paragraph, and before I know it there are pages. The first story is tossed aside. It might linger around for a while. I'll write a line or two but the magic is gone.
I don't want to go through this cycle of falling in love with the newest and shiniest idea again, leaving a string of unfinished, unloved stories in the dust behind me. But...
I'm diligently working on Project #1 but then recently an old love appeared to me. This story has been playing around my head for years. Every time I thought I got close, things didn't work out, until now... I always had this inkling that the story wouldn't flow until I could work out the beginning. Now I have the beginning and the characters are demanding to be written.
So what do I do? Leave one story for the other? Stay with one but keep the other on the side? Or do I practice creative polygamy?
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This is a topic I hear writers discuss a lot!! You are not alone in this :) My suggestion to one of my writing buddies was to break up her writing time between the several projects. One project might get more attention, but, don't try and subdue the muse :) Let her out!! lol
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!!
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