WIP vs New Idea

I’m usually better at prioritizing them. In the past, I’ve gotten the start of the new idea written down, and that got it out of my head long enough to finish what I’m already working on. But this time, it’s not working.

I’ve had this idea brewing in my head for a few months now and I think it’ll be fun and, once the world building is complete, fairly easy to keep up, considering there’s a lot in my bill paying job that can be used as fodder. So I went with doing a little world building. I’ve created my first two main characters, come up with an awesome “Press 1 for x” joke that will make a great interlude or literal opening first chapter, and have a rough draft idea of how the world works (though now so much WHY the world works).

Normally this would be enough to satisfy my brain and let me return to life. But this time, it keeps nagging at me. It keeps whispering at the back of my mind and thumping me at the base of my skull. Why won’t you leave me alone!

I think part of it might be because my WIP is book 4 of a series where the first 3 have already been written, edited, and rewritten multiple times. My brain is telling me, it’s cool, you can let that one sit for a bit, WORK ON ME! And it makes sense but I’m also still querying that series, and I’m afraid that if I stop all things on 4 and focus on the new thing, I’ll be screwed if (when - this positive - when) I get an agent and have to make good on the part of my query letter that says I’m currently working on book 4.

But I’m also afraid I’ll lose this new idea - that if I wait too long it’ll go away or I won’t be interested anymore by the time I get to it. So I’m torn - to work in progress or work on new?

That’s the life of a writer, though, isn’t it? We’re all constantly getting new ideas while working on current ones and reconsidering old ones. Our brains are multi-tasking so much, it’s almost reflexive. Go ahead and give me 8 things to do, my brain will figure it out. I’ll be exhaust af but I’ll get them all done!

And then we think going from unpublished author to agented author or published author is going to fix it, but it’s not. There will be even more deadlines, real ones not just the arbitrary ones we give ourselves to stay motivated. And if we miss these, we don’t just disappoint ourselves, we lose money! Holy shit! Multi-task faster, please!

So this is where we are. And it’s where I am. The place I’ll always end up. WIP versus New Idea. And somehow both of them will win. Will I win, too? If I manage to reach “The End” on both, absolutely. But what do I win?

Another excellent round of multi-tasking!