What Now?

You know what’s worse than writer’s block? Writer’s indecisiveness.

I’ve just come down from an editing high – a couple of weeks of meticulously going through a thriller I’m working on, up and down, back and forth. It’s finally at a place where I can leave it in the hands of someone else. Now, while I was working on those edits, I was determined, inspired and motivated.

What’s weird is, that energy hasn’t gone away – but the focus has. What do I do now? Do I write a new novel, revise one I wrote last year, edit one that’s been through the ringer a few times already, or focus on writing and submitting short stories? I have the will to do it all – I just don’t know where to start.

Yeah, I hear what you’re saying: “But Trey, you just need to make an ordered list, and start at the top”-yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t want solutions, I want to blog about being indecisive. Just let me mad for a second.

In one sense I find this worse than writer’s block. Because not knowing what to write is easy to fix. You just sit down and do it, just type it out, overcome that rut you find yourself in, and you’ll soon be flying out on the other side. Not knowing where to put in the effort, as is my problem right now, feels much more overwhelming. I wish I could do it all at the same time, or that I simply could focus on one project from start to finish and then leave it behind me for good. Unfortunately, I’m a big believer in letting a first draft rest for a while before editing it. (And in world of beta readers and editors, I always find myself waiting on someone.)

But yes, dear reader, you’re right. I should just make a list. Start with whatever is oldest and focus on that. But what if one of my other projects is more fun? And then I’ll work my way through it all in chronological order. I guess.

How do you work? Do you have a list of projects you deal with in perfect order? Do you pick them out of a hat? Let me know in the comments!