Staying Focused

Lou Treleaven

I have a problem at the moment staying focused on one project. I've just had a quick tally and I'm writing 4 books at the moment and redrafting 2. I wish I could just stay on one book until it's done or at least at the next stage, but I can never wait to start something else! Any tips on how to stay working on one project at a time? I think if I could just keep going on one thing for a while I'll make more progress.

Nefertari

What I do is make a timetable. So I say, next week I will only do such and such book or poem and nothing else. I usually find it works.

Lou Treleaven

And do you still flip between projects as well or do you carry on with one until it's finished?

boredrobots

I jump ship like my life depends on it. The hardest part for me is finishing a story, not coming up with an ending but actually sitting down and putting it on paper. Maybe subconsciously I don’t want the story to end?? No that can’t be it because I have the same problem with novels that I’ve grown ‘bored’ with. And it’s nothing to do with editing either because strangely enough I enjoy the editing stage!

Well...glad I could help :S

If you find an answer to this let me know! :P

Lou Treleaven

[quote=bored_robots]No that can’t be it because I have the same problem with novels that I’ve grown ‘bored’ with. And it’s nothing to do with editing either because strangely enough I enjoy the editing stage![/quote]

Me too. I just feel like I have so many ideas and things I want to work on!

Nefertari

I do flip from project to project sometimes, but make sure I spend a long time on each one, not just a day here and there. I have to do that as I can't get back into the book if I don't. But when a book is near the end, like the one I am working on now, I spend most of the time on it. I've not written any poems for a few weeks because of it.

pbw

Gosh, I don't know. I'm the opposite. I become immersed in one project and don't want to leave it. My manuscript is finished but I'm sure I'll do a Jonathan Frantzen on it and carry on fiddling until someone takes it away from me.

If I hit a really big block, I'll abandon it and try something else. That usually refreshes me and then I can go back to the main project.

Interesting you should raise this topic, Lou, because this morning I was thinking I would like to start two novels in parallel: one the sequel to my debut, and the second another idea, more literary.

I like kateyanne's idea of having a timetable.

Tiny Nell

I think you should just go with the flow, Lou.

I was doing the same. It all seemed really untidy and hotch potch, not to mention unattainable, but, bit by bit they each grew and were eventually consigned to a dark literary cupboard where they each waited their turn until I was ready to deal with them again.It was as if I needed to get enough down in order to feel it was safe to let them stew for a while without losing anything.

If you have an idea or two or three, you can't help it. It's difficult not to get your teeth into something when you're inspired. There may come a time when you get drawn to one piece over the others and it might just take off. At the moment your brain's juggling lots of little balls whereas you're expecting it to get one big basketball through the hoop. Maybe it's just the way you work.

Vijay

Lou, seems like you're trying to catch four rabbits at the same time. Good luck if you can do it.
Discipline is required.
Better chasing one rabbit, catching and having it for supper. You wont go hungry.
No offence to rabbit lovers.

pbw

[quote=Tiny Nell]I think you should just go with the flow, Lou.[/quote] [quote=Tiny Nell]If you have an idea or two or three, you can't help it. It's difficult not to get your teeth into something when you're inspired.[/quote]

I agree. I think the indecision hasn't hit me yet because I have been working up until now on The One Big Idea.

With that one out of the way, I find I have three core ideas for novels, two sci-fi and one women's fiction, and I can feel myself dithering. I can't decide which one to start, but two of them I would like to write in parallel, alternating my time between them, or maybe all three.

So I think the bottom line is as TN says, go with what inspires you on the day. It's what your muse wants to do.

Vijay

Fair points but she suggested in her initial question that going with the flow isnt helping.
One way, is to simply tell yourself that you are going to stick with one novel and finish it come what may. This requires focus and a bloody mindedness. But the novel gets finished good or bad.

dora

KA's timetable idea is good, I would also make a brief note or list of what you need to accomplish within the planned time you have set aside for writing.

That way, when you see what you've achieved you will be encouraged to continue with the project to see it through.

Perhaps if you think of it in terms of a year's course of learning where various topics are sectioned in the different seasons of the year. So many weeks for this topic, so many for that. That's what you need to do with one project, outline what it is you need to do, decide when you want to finish it by, timetable yourself specific writing time, make a note of what is to be achieved in that writing time.

It's the same with losing weight, or any project where you need to keep focus to reach a goal. Plan, organise, then get your head down and work at it. :)

Baggy Books

[quote=Tiny Nell] think you should just go with the flow, Lou. [/quote]

That's what I do. I don't beat myself up over anything.

Red

Try to be pragnmatic. Inevitably you can't go from one thing to another all the while without driving yourself mad. At the end of the day you have to find some sort of balance that works for you, but it's down to discipline and patience.

I have four major projects - one is complete, one is being edited and two are yet to be written. I'm itching to start the other two but I know I need to complete the one I'm currently working on, then I have to be patient while I plan and research the next one before I begin. For me, that's like jumping from a bridge without the bungee. I need to be patient and disciplined because I know the finished product will be worth it.

Of course, everyone is different. There is truth to the phrase...'one step at a time.'

Mrs Bear

Lou, it sounds as though you haven't really got an end in sight for any of the projects - you're vacillating between them all. You're not committed to one, you haven't got the urge to see one of them through.
You need to focus on what you want for your work: if you want to get it out there, you've got to commit to it, and if you can't commit to it, is it really worth pursuing?
Or is it the knowledge that just finishing it doesn't guarantee anything that's holding you back? There is always something else to write; but make your notes now on your new idea, and it will still be there when you've finished one of the other projects - and you will give it more of your attention, and will do a better job of it.

Lou Treleaven

Thanks everybody - your comments are really helpful. I think I will draw up a timetable and be stricter with myself. It is the way I work but I don't think it's very productive and I need to be more disciplined. So I will try to work on one project for a month at a time, then I will give myself the choice of switching to something else for a break or continuing. A month should be enough to get a good block of work done.

Emma B

I'm going to be doing the same thing Lou, after months of feeling bad about not writing I'm going to have to do something about it and a timetable is deffinitely the way to go.

Lou Treleaven

I can forsee a fun hour with my highlighters!

cath

I get carried away too...always ideas buzzing around that take me away from my WIP. I have a notebook that I carry around and I write all the story lines in it. I've got a huge stockpile of detailed story outlines for novels and short stories. Think most of them will stay at that stage forever. I've promised myself that when I've finished my non-fiction book (by end of this month) I am going to have a big fat rest and only write for fun...and try very hard just to focus on my incomplete novel.
Never a dull moment! I