Tuesday, January 18, 2011

It's Time for Ugh!



“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?

31 comments:

Candyland said...

Long story short-YES. It's hard to let go and move on.

Jessica Ann Hill said...

I 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.

Good luck with your new project!

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

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 :)

Tales of Whimsy said...

Oh yah! :) Great question!

Heather said...

I 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.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Good luck! And not really. I get bored with my projects after a few months, so i always need to work fast fast fast

Vicki Rocho said...

I have a problem ignoring Shiny New Idea and finishing the current project.

Jessica Bell said...

Yes!!! 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!

Laurel Garver said...

I 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.

It'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. :-)

Hermana Maw said...

YES! A blank page is so much harder to face than page 375. Or page 2 for that matter. Good luck.

Colene Murphy said...

Awe! I'm excited for you! I love new ideas and blank pages and starting new projects! Hurray!!

Patti said...

Sometimes it's refreshing not to have the same words staring back at you.

Old Kitty said...

Oh 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
x

Jen said...

I'm excited for you, Shannon. It's always scary and exciting to start a new project.

Short answer to your question? No. I"m always ready to start another story. I have too many in my head. It's getting crowded. I just have to finish the ones at the front of the line first.

Good luck!

Golden Eagle said...

Sometimes. If I've been working on one thing for a long time, then I'll have trouble shifting to a new project.

Shannon Messenger said...

YAY--I KNEW YOU HAD ANOTHER PROJECT IN YOU!!!! Can't wait to watch it grow.

As 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!

Diane said...

I think it's awesome that you have another ready to begin. Anything is possible! Yeah!!! :O)

Karen Lange said...

Yeah sometimes. And I can dance around a project like crazy, even when a deadline is looming. Why is that? :)
Happy Tuesday,
Karen

Kittie Howard said...

When you have a chance, Shannon, I have a little something for you at my place.

Unknown said...

Yes. 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.

Let's just say I'm crazy across the board. Yes?

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Loved the read. Good luck with your new project.

Yvonne.

DL Hammons said...

No....because I don't do it. :)

Unknown said...

One word... Yes. I always start another, but end up coming back to that first project.

I need to really concentrate on finishing my next project.

Kathi Oram Peterson said...

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.

Enjoy the journey and good luck on your book that is fighting it out on the front lines. :)

Jemi Fraser said...

I do have a hard time letting go - but I LOVE starting a new project! :)

Kristen Torres-Toro said...

YES! It's one of the hardest things to do!

Jennie Englund said...

You are doing the right thing! Keep hoping, querying, thinking, writing!

It's who you are!

Lenny Lee said...

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.
...hugs from lenny

Elana Johnson said...

You can do this!

For 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!

Carol Riggs said...

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!

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

I'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). :)

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