dcrwrites

Sometimes it can be hard to focus on your writing projects.

This can be especially true if those writing projects aren't a part of your livelihood. As such, other things--i.e., work that pays money--often take precedence over the things that may (or may not) generate some money for you.

That's where a number of my writing projects end up--on the backburner.

On my other blog, I have five writing projects in my sidebar. It's been ages since I touched any of them. Some, I have not touched since 2006. Others go back to 2004! And, I have incomplete stories on older computers, still waiting to be finished. It's very likely that I have stories I started in the 80's that I still have not finished.

Mind you, I have finished stories. I don't want to make it sound as though I haven't. I have finished short stories. I have published short stories. It's the novels-in-progress I never seem to finish.

Part of the problem is jumping from one to another and not maintaining a focus on any one of them.

For a period back in 2004, I did focus on one particular story and worked on it nearly every day for a month or two. Then, I got sidetracked with other things. Probably things that earned me money, whereas this novel-in-progress represented only hope and not a sure thing.

Since then, I have not touched that story. Oh, I've looked at it. I've scanned in my notes so I would have them handy on the computer and not be dependent on its physical file folder. But, then, other things take precedence.

In a poll I did on my blog ("Show of Votes for SciFi", December 6, 2007), this particular story finished dead last, so perhaps I was not wrong in putting it on the backburner.

Still, though, that's what we do sometimes is look for justification for pushing things off. Sometimes, it feels easier that way. Though we would like a finished novel, often the harsh reality of the world sets in and gives you additional justification for putting it off. Plenty of people do finish their novels, but then no one will publish them. So what makes you think you have any better of a shot? And, so, you feel justified in putting it off.

Even if it eats you up inside.

And then there are the times when situations come up and you wish that you had your novel finished because it would be so timely. Then again, you have to face the chances that you worked on the wrong novel. You should have worked on novel A rather than novel B.

However, the important thing is to have a finished something. You can't publish, either on your own or through a publisher, a novel that is not finished. An idea, a few scraps of paper and four or five chapters isn't going to get you far. Sure, you may be able to attract a publisher's interest, but then you will need to be prepared to finish it! And, if you haven't finished the novel on your own, how can you expect to finish it under a real deadline?

Anyway, earlier this year, I decided to focus on one project and see it through to completion. I finished it up in a couple months. Then, I ended up setting it aside for about a month, as I waited to hear back from beta readers who never got back to me. After that, I spent a few more months on it and finally wrapped it up. I put it (a non-fiction eBook) up for sale a couple months ago. I won't mention it here, as promoting it is not my intent here. I provide it merely as an example that you can finish things up when you set your mind to it.

All together, it was about 120,000 words in length. By comparison, a work is generally considered a novel when it is 40,000 to 100,000 (or more) words in length. Since writing that eBook, I also wrote a second one in a couple weeks or so, which came in at just under 14,000 words.

So, focus is definitely important. Of course, it was easier to justify working on this project than a novel, because I anticipated a greater demand for this particular eBook than there might have been for a novel.

Again, you can see how basic needs (i.e., paying bills) takes precedence over working on fiction. With the economy such that it is, work to cover for those basic needs takes an even greater precedence over other concerns. And, that's particularly frustrating because the one thing people are after is a little escapism in their lives and, for some people, that means reading a book.

Still, I would like to find some time, some way, to set aside in order to work on some of my fiction projects. Get something going there, which is something I've wanted to do since high school.