“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.”
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
It's time. I have done everything in my power to avoid starting a new project. I was afraid I didn't have another one in me. I was wrong, of course.
I now know what my next book will be. And I'm finally ready to begin it. My current MS is out on the front lines of query wars, battling bravely, so I need something to keep me company while its away.
It's so darned hard to face a blank document, though, when you're used to seeing pages and pages of words! Ugh!
Do you have a difficult time letting go of a project and starting over?
Long story short-YES. It's hard to let go and move on.
ReplyDeleteI have the opposite problem, actually. I always have so many ideas coming at me that I'm always tempted to start a new project before finishing the one I was working on.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your new project!
It's like a little baby...you have to let them go sometime! It's hard, but it will be ok...just go for it, and write what feels right :)
ReplyDeleteOh yah! :) Great question!
ReplyDeleteI don't actually. The next book and it's characters is always screaming for attention and begging to be started. While my one manuscript sits waiting for the seperation time before I edit it I'm outlining the next.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! And not really. I get bored with my projects after a few months, so i always need to work fast fast fast
ReplyDeleteI have a problem ignoring Shiny New Idea and finishing the current project.
ReplyDeleteYes!!! I always hear people talk about how they can't tame their ideas and don't know which WIP to work on blah blah blah, but me? Well, ha, I WISH!
ReplyDeleteI know just what you mean. I definitely do. One of my CPs took me to task about this just this morning. He also gently urged me to be more courageous about sending bigger batches of queries.
ReplyDeleteIt's very easy to fall in love with potentiality and get stuck. Moving forward with a new project should help you emotionally to hold your queried project more loosely. At least in theory. :-)
YES! A blank page is so much harder to face than page 375. Or page 2 for that matter. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteAwe! I'm excited for you! I love new ideas and blank pages and starting new projects! Hurray!!
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's refreshing not to have the same words staring back at you.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Well done you!!! And GOOD LUCK with your brave novel battling the good query war fight!!!!! I'm cheering this book and your new one all the way!! Take care
ReplyDeletex
Sometimes. If I've been working on one thing for a long time, then I'll have trouble shifting to a new project.
ReplyDeleteYAY--I KNEW YOU HAD ANOTHER PROJECT IN YOU!!!! Can't wait to watch it grow.
ReplyDeleteAs far as fearing the blank document, not really, cause the only one I've started is my sekrit project, and I write that just for me, so there's no pressure on it. Honestly, it's kind of fun watching it grow. I've missed that whilst in the dregs of endless revision.
Have fun with it!
I think it's awesome that you have another ready to begin. Anything is possible! Yeah!!! :O)
ReplyDeleteYeah sometimes. And I can dance around a project like crazy, even when a deadline is looming. Why is that? :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Tuesday,
Karen
When you have a chance, Shannon, I have a little something for you at my place.
ReplyDeleteYes. I should say more. I should shout it from the rooftops that this is really difficult. I love to hold onto them. However, I'm also one that moves quickly, when a new idea pops in my brain I run.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say I'm crazy across the board. Yes?
Loved the read. Good luck with your new project.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
No....because I don't do it. :)
ReplyDeleteOne word... Yes. I always start another, but end up coming back to that first project.
ReplyDeleteI need to really concentrate on finishing my next project.
Oh yes, I have a hard time finishing a book with characters I love. But then I put my head down and plow through to the next book and the magic happens all over again.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the journey and good luck on your book that is fighting it out on the front lines. :)
I do have a hard time letting go - but I LOVE starting a new project! :)
ReplyDeleteYES! It's one of the hardest things to do!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing the right thing! Keep hoping, querying, thinking, writing!
ReplyDeleteIt's who you are!
hi miss shannon! for me i get to much stuff started and dont get anything done. now im learning how to get going on one and keep going tile it gets done. im thinking im gonna be ok letting it go cause i already go the next one started and it need me bad.
ReplyDelete...hugs from lenny
You can do this!
ReplyDeleteFor me, I've started over so many times, that it's just more words. I'm fine with it. I've deleted and cut, rearranged and reformed and rewritten. It's just words. In the end, they're all mine, and that's all that counts.
Good luck!
Oddly, I don't have this problem (or, I haven't YET). I tend to have some shiny new idea that I'm itching to get to. But I know the feeling of wondering if you can top what you've already written. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm usually eager to start the new project - it's re-starting an old one (as in ONE MORE REVISION) that gives me the cold sweats. Which, not coincidentally, is what I'm doing today. Yay (bronx cheer). :)
ReplyDelete