Choosing a new project

[sarillia]

How do you go about deciding what to work on next? Does one just call out to you or do you have a process for choosing one?

Normally I can just pick one and work on it until it's done--though occasionally I end up deciding that I'm not ready to start the one I chose after all and it works better if I get back to it later--but lately I my mind has been all over the place and I can't decide.

Sometimes what I do is I make a list of my top choices and then I go through that list and make a new one out of my top choices from that list and keep doing that until I only have one left. But I can't seem to narrow it down this time.

Part of it, I think, is that issue of audience appeal I talked about before. Instead of basing it entirely on my enthusiasm, I can't help thinking about what might be most salable too.

Comments

[sarillia]

Oh I'm not planning on trying to make a living off writing. It would just be nice to be able to make a little money from it. For all my agonizing over a possible audience, I'm really not focusing too much on it.

[splinteredstar]

Yeah, that's fair. But for me, any thought of selling it makes me freak out. It's a part of it being safe - if I think about throwing it out into the wild, then I sort of freeze up.

It's totally reasonable to think about making money off of your writing. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. It's just easier for me to deal with writing if I think that it doesn't have to matter to anyone, and I can keep it safe and secret inside of my own head.

[sarillia]

I understand that. I'm kind of like that too but I'm trying to move past it for various reasons, both high-minded thoughts of sharing my work with people who would enjoy it and also a tinge of desperation to be making money somehow even if it's only a little.

But I completely get where you're coming from.

[splinteredstar]

Yep. Everyone writes differently and for different reasons, and everyone shares for different reasons. Part of why talking with other writers is important - comparing notes on what being a writer is like and how it works.

(Sorry if I came across as rude. Totally not my intention. I'm just occasionally super awkward.)

[sarillia]

I don't think you seemed rude at all. No worries. :)