Writing, promotion, tips, and opinion. Pour a cuppa your favorite poison and join in.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Jumping Projects

Writing is such an individual thing. We all do it just a little bit differently.

Some of us are plotters while others are pantsters. (For the record: I'm a plotter.) Some write longhand while others use a computer. Just about anything you say about how you write, there will be someone else who does it differently.

And then, you can change.

I used to be a one-at-a-time person. I worked on one story until I got to the end. I like to see one project through to completion. I thought that having more than one story going at a time would dilute both (or more) projects.

But then I discovered how jumping from one project to another worked. I didn't lose the story of one when I worked on another. It helped rejuvenate me. If I got stuck on one story, I could go and work on another story. Then by the time the other story was stumping me, I could go back to the first and find that whatever issues I was having before were gone. It was liberating.

My questions for today: Do you work on more than one project at a time? Have you ever changed how you write? Has that helped you write better?

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't tend to jump while I'm drafting. I like to stay in the story I'm working on. However, once I get something to the editing stage, I find it helpful to work on something else. That way I keep my creativity satisfied while I'm re-writing page 1 for the 400th time. :)

Petro said...

I don't write anything other than my blog but I believe the jumping works on other areas too. When I used to work on something very challenging I needed to switch off, sort of speaking, and I was doing that with other smaller and more relaxing tasks. When I came back to my main project, I could work and focus on it much better and at the end of the day, I managed to finish all my tasks and projects.
So we are very much alike :)

Hugs

Suzanne Furness said...

When I'm in the editing phase I find I start plotting and getting interested in new ideas and projects even if its only in my head. You are right though, sometimes we need to take a break from one project to refresh our minds and energies for it.

Crystal Pistol said...

I work on a million things at once. It works for me. :)

blankenship.louise said...

I'm monogamous, but I don't judge you wild swinger types. :D

Tara Tyler said...

ha ha, i'm a story swinger too =)
but only once in a while. we all need a break from the main project. even if just to do a contest or short story or work on the query & synopsis!

i also swing read, books in several locations...never know wen i will have a few minutes to read!

Aldrea Alien said...

Occasionally, but not so much in the writing. When I can't think of anymore to write on one, I might go read another.

More often than not, I'll go do something completely not-writing related.

Liz A. said...

That's a good way to do it.

Liz A. said...

I started doing more than one project with my knitting, and I found that it worked so well I applied it to writing. It is good to be able to switch from the harder to the easier and back again.

Liz A. said...

Yeah, even mentally working on something else can help.

Liz A. said...

I used to be. I still understand the mindset. If you get stuck, this is one thing to try.

Liz A. said...

I used to read one book at a time, but at the moment I'm reading three. I never thought I'd be able to keep them straight, but somehow I do it.

Liz A. said...

Whatever works. We all have to work the way our brains are wired.