I have many ongoing projects and new ideas happening in various stages.
Sometimes, they just won’t shut up! Who are they? The voices in my head.
Now, before you dismiss me as crazy, allow me to clarify: the characters for the fiction I write are alive in my mind. They exist in the world I have fashioned for them, and they sometimes “talk” to me.
So no, I’m not crazy (okay, actually, I AM crazy, but not in a danger-to-society-way). But over the years, and with all the ideas and worlds I’ve created, the number of “people” that go along with that are also rather numerous.
I love imagining new worlds to exist within. Whether sci-fi, fantasy, Steampunk, or some other alternative variation of this world – all of them get populated by characters, machines, technologies, and landscapes both like and unlike reality.
When I begin to write the idea to the page, my modus operandi for years was to sit down, let the scene unfold in my head, and write it out. That’s where the fantasy world of The Source Chronicles began and where the sci-fi galaxy of The Void Incursion started. One scene led to another – and eventually, they became the chapters that made up the whole of the novels.
For my new sci-fi series, Forgotten Fodder, I took a different approach and plotted the first four books chapter-by-chapter. This proved to be empowering rather than limiting as I feared, and I am excited about where this is going. (Unexpected Witness – Book One – Publishes Sunday, 2/28).
Both sci-fi series and The Source Chronicles are still ongoing projects. Yet, as I work on them, I am also working to create some new projects.
Balancing these takes some work.
The ongoing projects
I have published the first two books of both The Source Chronicles and Void Incursion series. The third book for each is complete – and in fact, Strategic Crush (Void Incursion Book 3) is with my new editor presently.
After much delay, I’m working to edit Harbinger – book 3 of The Source Chronicles. I am aiming to release it – at long last – hopefully in 2022. Unlike the Void Incursion and Forgotten Fodder series books – which tend to be 50,000-75,000 words – Harbinger is considerably more.
With the forthcoming publication of Unexpected Witness, I am editing the 2nd book in the series – The Clone Conundrum – now. Book 3 – Unraveling Conspiracy is done, and I am writing book 4 – Bold Moves presently.
I have completed the 4th book of Void Incursion – Antipositional Moves – but haven’t assembled it for publishing just yet. I need to write book 5 – Check and Mate – which completes the series.
The first four books of Forgotten Fodder will all be published before the end of 2021, as well as 2 of the remaining 3 Void Incursion novels.
I began Guardians – The Source Chronicles book 4 – and need to finish it, too.
That’s a lot of ongoing projects to consider. I didn’t even mention the 2nd book of The Vapor Rogues – my Steampunk series. It, too, is done and awaiting editing.
Since I set the goal of writing a minimum of 1500 words a day – and editing a chapter a day – that makes room for the ongoing projects. But these are not the only ideas playing scenes in my head.
New ideas
For a long time, I desired to write sci-fi. That was my first love, after all. One of my earliest childhood memories was watching Star Wars (it will always be Star Wars – not Episode IV – A New Hope to me – I saw it in ’77 the first time). Those two ships, seemingly coming from behind us and flying onto the screen blasting at each other after that awesome introductory crawl and soaring score embedded the love of the genre deep inside my psyche.
After shifting to fantasy and Steampunk for a while, I finally got the idea, and The Void Incursion series took form. That sparked the interest in creating the next series, and Forgotten Fodder came into being.
I am, presently, starting to layout ideas for two more sci-fi series. One straddles the line between sci-fi and sci-fantasy – the other leans heavily on the fantasy side of sci-fi.
Both are in the earliest stages of development. That’s world-building, Universe-shaping, and super general notions for these worlds and the stories I could tell from them.
Admittedly, one’s a bit stalled presently – but I’m setting it aside, for now, to work on the other. I think they both have a ton of potential. But taking the lessons learned in plotting for the creation of Forgotten Fodder, I am going to work out the worlds, maybe some of the characters, and then start plotting chapters.
Also – the first 4 books of Forgotten Fodder are only the first. I have two more overarching plots in mind to continue the series and can foresee writing another 6 books for it.
This is, admittedly, much like juggling. Juggling on a unicycle. Lots of balls in the air new-idea-wise, along with the ongoing projects.
Balancing ongoing projects and new ideas
Fortunately, after almost 30 years of fencing, I have excellent balance.
Writing and editing are my work. And since I love my work, I am happy to do both. Time is made to work on both editing the existing stuff to prep it for publication while splitting writing between ongoing projects and new ideas.
To balance the ongoing projects and new ideas, I maintain a spreadsheet with goals I check-off daily. These are dividing into 3 categories:
- Morning/before lunch
- Afternoon/after lunch
- Ongoing/all-day checks
These are not strictly for writing/editing. They are also for practices I seek to make habitual. This includes drinking water several times a day, meditating, reflecting on all the things (tangible and intangible) I am grateful for, writing, editing, and more.
From time to time I reevaluate the existing goal sheet and add to it. While the reward for sticking with it is mostly immaterial – the sense of completion, connection, and accomplishment that come from maintaining it are incalculable.
This has helped me with finding balance between my ongoing projects and new ideas. I am content and satisfied to be working with this.
Looking ahead as I choose this path for my life – I can see this as my way not in the short-term, but the long-term. Written digitally, nothing here is set in stone. Thus, there’s plenty of room for additional ongoing projects and new ideas on a continuous – but often changing – loop.
I have many ongoing projects and new ideas happening in various stages. This is not intimidating, however, because I can balance them and increase my overall productivity.
How do you balance your ongoing projects and new ideas?
Thank you for being part of my ongoing journey, for joining me, and for inspiring me and my craft.
This is the ninety-eighth article exploring the ongoing creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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