writing projects

The Danger of Juggling Too Many Writing Projects

~ ChanAtkins ~ 2 Comments

I wouldn’t advise anyone to do what I do…

Image by Theodor Moise from Pixabay

The other evening I was sitting at my laptop in my bedroom typing away when my youngest child wandered in to ask what I was up to. I assumed he wanted the short answer, ‘writing’, but he wanted the long one. He wanted to know what book I was working on. Sweet of him, but I instantly rolled my eyes and laughed. I held up my hand and warned him. I can’t answer that quickly, I told him, it’s always a long and complicated answer!

So, bless him, that’s what he got and to his credit, he did seem interested. He kept asking more questions so I assume he was legitimately intrigued! My answer went a bit like this, “I’m writing what might be part three to the book I just published… but I’m still not 100% sure if I am going to do it, but I just finished the fifth edit on part two, so I need a little break from editing, but really I should be editing the next Black Hare Valley book, but I’m probably delaying that series now while I get this one done which was always meant to be one book but now looks like it will be a trilogy…or I should be starting the rewrite for The 7th Child which is an unrelated book I wrote recently which really needs a big rewrite, but I’m just not in the mood to do it yet, probably because these books are too much in my mind. Plus, I did write a chapter or two of another unrelated book recently, but I’m gonna have to ignore that too…”

We also got into how the trilogy that wasn’t meant to be is related to and connected to lots of my other books.

He nodded and grinned. Probably wondered how unhinged his mother is. I felt suddenly exhausted by the work I have given myself. It isn’t easy juggling multiple projects and although I long ago accepted that this is just the way my mind works and there is no point resisting it, I do sometimes feel myself buckle under the weight of it.

In an ideal world I would get an idea, plan and plot and research, start writing, finish book, edit, edit, revise, edit and so on, publish, market and then start again with a new idea. I feel like that would be so peaceful, so organised, so chilled… I truly envy people who work like that.

It has never been like that for me. I have always found myself balancing multiple writing projects, editing something while writing something new, marketing old books while marketing new books, writing down ideas I didn’t want, feeling books push to the front and jump the queue, and books that were meant to be standalones evolving into trilogies…. Most evenings involve me splitting my time between editing one book and writing another.

Most of the time it’s fine and I just go with it. There is always one book that is the priority and that is usually the one closest to being published, but not always. I try to prioritise that one so my approach isn’t completely scattergun. The book that is furthest ahead will keep getting pushed towards that publication finish line. There is always another book, maybe two, being written at the same time though. I just can’t help it.

And sometimes it does stress me out. I think one of the hardest things is having my mind in several different books at the same time. The worlds might be very different, for example. I’ll be fully immersed in the world of one book and then have to switch vibes to work on another. This is hard when it comes to characters. Character is the most important element of story writing for me, and I’m always extremely happy when my reviews mention how much the reader loved the characters. But it would genuinely be better to just concentrate on one book at a time and be fully engaged with that set of characters. Instead, I am all over the place, and I am constantly worrying that it might dilute the characters or that I might confuse them.

To be fair, I don’t think that has ever happened but it is one of the reasons I wish I could concentrate on one project at a time.

The other thing that makes it hard is time. I wish I had more time. I wish every day was twice as long and then I could get everything done twice as fast and get on to the next waiting story. I think I live with the fear that I will die before I get all my books written. There is a tab on this site for my upcoming books – that should give you an idea of the amount of noise in my head all the time! Every time I get a book finished and published, I feel such an incredible sense of relief and letting go.

It’s also difficult from a stress point of view. A lot of the time it is fun working like this, jumping from one project to the next every day. It keeps things fresh and exciting. Sometimes though, it is stressful. It feels like I have given myself an unbearable load of homework and it often feels like something terrible will happen if I don’t complete it all!

I have my everyday to-do lists: plant seeds, change the beds, order dog food, water the plants, put the washing on, etc. Then I have my work-related to-do list: reply to that email, check online banking, prep the next weeks lessons, edit the children’s project and so on.

And then there is the endless writing to-do list I insist on giving myself. My on-going projects are on a piece of paper pinned to the wall beside me when I write. About twice a year I get the thrill of ticking one book off because I have published it! But the rest lays heavy on my shoulders. And I really, really don’t want to get any new ideas. Which is why I often avoid writing short stories…

Who knows what they could grow into?

My Entire To-Write List Is In Action!

~ ChanAtkins ~ 6 Comments
Image by Fathromi Ramdlon from Pixabay

In January 2022 I wrote a blog about how I handle having such a long to-write list. Part of coping with so many book ideas is allocating a notebook for each one, so that I can jot down title, blurb ideas, plots, character bios and so on. At that point I was putting the final touches to The Day The Earth Turned series, and the Fortune’s Well trilogy co-written with Sim Sansford. The trilogy is now out and the first book in The Day The Earth Turned series is also out! The other books in the series are also finished and waiting for their release dates.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing my usual crazy thing of writing/editing/jotting ideas and thinking about multiple writing projects at the same time! No change there then, but I don’t worry about it anymore. It’s just the way my mind works.

However, I did suddenly realise the other day that my entire to-write list is now in action. Every book is in some state of progress and even better than that – I have not had any new ideas!!!!

Awesome!

I feel like I can now relax and enjoy getting these books finished and released. They will certainly keep me busy over the next few years!

To keep you updated, here is a list of my to-write list and the stage each one is currently at (I’ve listed them in the order I expect to release them in):

At Night We Played In The Road – the spin-off book from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side series. Works as a standalone but does give spoilers for part 5 of The Boy series… It’s written, it’s had six drafts, its been to beta readers and I’ve responded to feedback. It’s currently with my editor and I’ve already worked on a few structural edits she suggested. I plan to release around May 2024.

The Mess Of Us – long awaited sequel to my debut novel The Mess Of Me. It’s had five drafts and I’m just about to start draft six before sending it to beta readers! Hope to release summer 2024.

The Dark Finds You – the unexpected crossover book that ends the stories in The Boy With The Thorn In His Side universe – brings characters from The Mess Of Me/Us, the Holds End trilogy and Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature together in one storyline with Danny from The Boy series… It’s had five drafts and I absolutely love it. Probably the easiest most addictive book I’ve ever written. I hope to release end of autumn 2024.

Black Hare Valley – written in long-hand in five notebooks, wrote ‘The End’ about a year ago and haven’t touched it since, but I will be diving into the second draft of this once the books above are completely finished and ready for release.

Diary of the Undead – started in a notebook a few years ago then put aside, I recently picked it up again and decided to type up what I had. This led to a few more chapters but I then put it aside to concentrate on everything else!

We hate The Cool Kids – still awaiting a second draft and it’s been about five years now, but I’ll get to it when I can.

The 7th Child – in progress because I have the whole plot nailed down, plus the characters are evolving on a daily basis and I’m adding bits of plot etc too. I’ve also written the first chapter.

The Few – a series to cowrite with Sim Sansford – we recently kicked this off with the first few chapters done!

And that’s it. All the books waiting in notebooks and all the books in my head all in some state of action. I’m really pleased about this but do you know what I’m most pleased about??

Not having any new ideas!!!

How To Handle A Long To-Write-List

~ ChanAtkins ~ 1 Comment

I’ve blogged before about how to juggle multiple writing projects at the same time. For me, it’s almost impossible to work on one thing at a time and I used to worry about this. I don’t anymore. There is always a priority project, one that is the closest to being ready for publication, and that’s the one I work on first every single night. However, new ideas spring up all the time, and if I don’t write them down I run the risk of forgetting an important detail. Also, when I’m stuck in a long editing/rewriting/revising process for a written book, my mind craves fresh, new exciting writing. I decided long ago to just go with it and accept that it’s always going to be this way. At the moment, for example, I’m editing/revising my 4-book YA post-apocalyptic series The Day The Earth Turned. This should be the final edit before it goes to the proofreader and as all four books are completed and almost ready, there is no fresh, new writing involved anymore. I’m also going through the same process with the YA trilogy I’ve co-written with Sim Sansford. Book one is with the proofreader and we’re getting the other two books ready to go after that. These two projects are the priority, but I want to write new stuff as well!

But having a lot of ideas, or a long -to-write-list can be distracting. New ideas can derail you from current projects, and at the same time, if you ignore new ideas until you’ve got time for them, you could easily forget important details or forget the whole idea entire entirely!

When a new idea comes along, it can feel so bright and exciting, that it becomes tempting to quit or ‘rest’ your current WIP and jump to the new one. Young writers do this a lot, and so they should – writing should be vibrant and exciting and I think young minds should respond to the influx of ideas they’re getting. However, if you’re a published author, you need to stick to your goals and work through them one at a time, or it can all become a bit of a mess.

My 8-book to-write-list

So, this is how I handle it. I prioritise one project until it is published, but also allow myself to work on something new a few times a week, and jot ideas down in notebooks for future books. Currently, I’m working on the first draft of what will stand as a spin-off book to The Boy With The Thorn In His Side series. (Working title, At Night They Played In The Road.) I’m at chapter twenty-three and only write it every now and then, but it’s constantly on my mind and will definitely be the next one to bump up to priority position. I am also scribbling a diary style story into a notebook every now and then. This is my Zombie apocalypse story which is honestly just a bit of fun at the moment, and a long way down the list to take seriously. I can’t resist adding to it every now and then though.

The other day I decided to organise all my future book ideas into a sensible to-write-list. You can see in the image that I have eight future novels outlined. I’m not exactly sure of the order these will be prioritised in. Sometimes books at the end of the list get louder and push their way forward, shoving others out of the way as they do. I just hope I don’t get any more ideas, as this list is plenty to keep me going for several years! I’ve listed them below in the order I THINK I will tackle them and added a brief description of the book idea and how far developed it is at the moment.

Working title: At Night They Played In The Road. A spin-off to my 5-book series The Boy With The Thorn In His Side. Written 23 chapters so far and characters are developing well. Notebook contains plot ideas and structure, character bios, and chapter outlines so far.
The Mess Of Us: The long awaited sequel to my debut YA novel The Mess Of Me. Written about half of it in first draft. Know exactly what’s going to happen. Notebook contains ideas for the plot, chapter outlines so far and half of a hand-written first draft.
We Hate The Cool Kids: (working title) I wrote this a few years ago! The first draft is done, except the ending needs some sorting out. It came out of nowhere and just wrote itself into a notebook, longhand. I haven’t gone back to it yet because it jumped the queue and I wanted to concentrate on publishing The Holds End trilogy and The Day The Earth Turned series. It will be great to get back to this soonish as it is basically done and ready for it’s 2nd draft! It’s a YA psychological thriller. Notebook contains character bios, plot ideas and structure and chapter outlines, as well as almost the whole book written in longhand.
I’ve popped it here in the list but it might jump the queue a bit and it should get done fast as two of us will be writing it! A year ago Sim and I started writing a YA supernatural trilogy together and it’s now done and each book is heading one by one to the proofreader. Once we’ve done final, final edits on that, we will start this together! It sprung from a short story I wrote. The idea grew and grew and it’s definitely one Sim and I could make work. It’ll be another YA. Post-apocalyptic/dystopian, possibly?? Notebook contains the short story the idea came from, character bios, plot ideas and a possible introduction.
A few years ago me and my son were writing fanfiction together when I had the idea for an ‘IT’ style horror series about unlikely young heroes battling evil in their strange little town. We drew an intricate map of the fictional town and I started writing plot ideas and character bios. My son then lost interest and I tucked it all away for another day. This story has grown a lot since then and its one I am really excited to start! I’d say Black Hare Valley will be a YA supernatural/paranormal/horror series. Notebook contains a huge fold-out map of the fictional town, character bios, ideas for the plot and research on local folklore and legends.
Diary Of The Undead came about thanks to my obsession with The Walking Dead, which started a year ago when I first watched it! A few months ago I got the idea for a diary style book from the POV of an unlikely teen hero and couldn’t resist starting it. I’ve nearly filled an entire notebook but it will be some time before I treat this one as a priority. I will continue to add to it when I feel like it. It’ll be a YA horror series. Notebook contains character bios and plot ideas and almost a whole notebook of the first draft in longhand.
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This book has been growing in my mind for a few years, but all I ever really had was a large, dysfunctional family and the death of a child. I have a lot more than that now so it got it own notebook the other day and I’ve started adding character bios already. I came up with the title quickly the other day but it will probably change. It’ll be some years before this one gets written! It will be a psychological thriller/family mystery aimed at adults. Notebook contains basic plot idea, ideas to explore, structure ideas and a few character bios.

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This is last on the list as it’s calling to me the least but who knows? It might climb higher. This is an idea based on a book I almost finished writing when I was in my late teens. It didn’t have a title back then but was essentially about a terrible crime and the revenge that follows. I’ll use the same characters I had back then and the basic storyline, but it will flick between the past and the present now and will probably fit the adult thriller market. Notebook contains character bios and basic plot ideas I had from back then.

Sorting each book idea out like this has really helped me feel in control. Not all of them had notebooks and some of them were just ideas and characters floating around in my head. I feel like I’ve contained them somewhat now! And the good thing is, I can add to these notebooks any time I get ideas for plot, character or dialogue. This means that when each book finally gets its turn, it will feel like getting in touch with an old friend. Everything will be in place to get going.

Do you have a long to-write list? How do you take care of future ideas? Feel free to comment and share!

Why I Can’t Just Work On One Book At A Time…

~ ChanAtkins ~ Leave a comment
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

In an ideal world, I would work on one book at a time. I would be sat there all fresh, waiting for an idea to come along. I would start jotting down notes, forming character bios and doing research. And all of this would happen with a clear mind, a mind undisturbed or distracted from anything else.

Sometimes I think how nice that would be. I once heard another author say that she never starts a new book until the last book has been released. So, for her, it is one book at a time and one book only. Sometimes I envy that approach and think how much tidier and saner her head must be compared to mine!

But as they say, it’s no good comparing yourselves to others, especially when it comes to creative pursuits. We all do things so differently, in our own way, and that’s what makes us unique, I guess. At times, I have worried about my approach and longed for it to be different. These days, despite the headaches and chaos my approach brings, I wouldn’t change it. It is always going to be this way and I have finally accepted that!

For example, at the moment I am preparing to release two books. One, is a re-release, an updated version of my short story collection Bird People and Other Stories. It has a brand new cover and I will release it without much fuss very soon. I just felt it needed a tidy up and I’m really happy with it’s new look.

The other book is a new short story and poetry collection. It needs a few more edits and proofreads and a front cover, so it won’t be released for a while, but it’s basically ready.

While preparing those, I am also working on my four-book post-apocalyptic series, The Day The Earth Turned. I have just finished a rewrite of book one and started a rewrite of book two. Book three is awaiting its second draft and book four has been planned but not started. This is what I call my priority project, although, releasing the two finished books is technically the priority. I work on this series every night. I edit at least four chapters before I let myself do anything else.

I am also working on a YA series with Sim Sansford. I wrote about our process last week. We are approaching the end of book three in the trilogy, but of course, there will be plenty of rounds of edits and revisions to come for all three books. With this project, I respond as soon as I get a chapter from Sim, so I’m writing a chapter maybe once or twice a week, which is not too time consuming at all.

Also on the go, is a spin-off book from my five-book series The Boy With The Thorn In His Side. Two characters are introduced in book five and they really annoyed the hell out of me by growing and evolving so much that they started to demand their own spin-off book! I started making notes for this a few years back when I was still working on The Boy series! Then about a year ago I started writing a rough first draft in a notebook. At the moment I am typing up what I have so far and seeing where it might go. I only work on this if I have completed my chapters for the priority series already mentioned!

I also have another possible series in motion. My son and I drew a wonderful map a while back for a town called Black Hare Valley. Originally, we were going to attempt to write it together but he changed his mind. I couldn’t let the idea go though, and ended up writing a sort of prologue/short story for it. I also wrote a ton of character bios, added to the map and came up with a load of ideas for a YA supernatural/folklore type of story. I am desperate to start writing this but at the moment I have to be satisfied with adding to the planning every now and then!

Added to all of that, I have written half of the sequel to The Mess Of Me and would love to get back to this at some point and I have written a first draft of a YA psychological drama which is just sat there waiting for it’s turn to be worked on. Then, there is another series I’d like to write with Sim when Fortune’s Well is finished. I had an idea one day that grew into a short story…inevitably the story grew into a novel…and possibly a series. But all of these have to wait!!

And then the other day I got another idea! I don’t know why my brain does this to me! It just won’t stop! I don’t know how to make it stop?! I suppose I should be glad I don’t have the opposite problem. No ideas at all would be far, far worse, so maybe I should be grateful. But honestly…I really didn’t need another idea, did I? And this one really wouldn’t go away so I have started writing it….Eek, I know, totally insane.

The new idea won’t take up too much of my time (or so I have convinced myself!) The idea came from me and my sons current obsession with everything zombie and post-apocalyptic. My older son and I have watched The Walking Dead for the first time and have now started watching Fear The Walking Dead. We are pretty obsessed with both shows and the obsession has rubbed off on to real life, where we’ll constantly find ourselves commenting on whether something would make a good zombie killing weapon or not, or how well certain fences and gates would last against a horde of zombies! My younger son is too young to watch anything zombie related but he has enjoyed playing Plants Vs Zombies on my phone and every night when we watch our shows, we have to tell him afterwards what happened. He knows all the characters names and is as obsessed as us without ever having watched either show! We have to do zombie vs survivors set-ups with his Lego or his PlayMobil and any time we go for a walk we have to pretend we are survivors looking for supplies and so on. So, I got this unwanted idea to write a journal style book from the point of view of a teenage boy at the start of a zombie apocalypse. I know it’s an overdone genre but what the hell…I probably won’t even do anything with it. I’m writing it long-hand into a notebook and I write one entry a day just as if it really is my diary. Some are very short, some quite long. It’s so much fun. So addictive. And I’m finding it easy to fit in around my other projects.

So, I guess that’s why I won’t ever be able to work on just one book at at time. My brain won’t let me. Ideas are everywhere. And writing is just so much goddamn fun!! I am too addicted to escaping this world and devising worlds of my own. I have too much fun creating characters I fall in love with and wish were real. I just hope I live long enough to get all these books written and published, That’s my main drive and ambition and purpose in life. Get them all written.