Libby – There is only one “should” or “have to” when it comes to writing: You have to write. How, when, where, with what tools, in what order…none of that is universal. And I’ve seen too many would-be writers get hung up, like you, on what they “should” be doing, as if the process is more important than the product. If for some reason, you still have trouble getting yourself to believe this, try doing what writers do best: Lie. When someone tells you that you “should” write everything by hand first, or that you “have to” work every night at 2 a.m., tell them that’s what you do. If they’ve just caught you doing something else, tell them that this isn’t how you “normally” work, it’s just an emergency make-do. Trust me, they’ll never know the difference unless you tell them. And if they can’t tell, why does it matter?

I love your emphasis on everyone doing things differently and explanations on what you’ve seen work for different people. Really amazing advice, thank you so much.

It’s not a perfect system, and I may need to change eventually, but so far it seems to work for me.

I think maybe our early school experiences give many of us the idea that if we just find out what The Rules are and follow them, then we’ll get an A. (A is for Agent, B is for Book?)This is reinforced by the large number of how-to-write books which do hand down rules.

I envy those who can juggle multiple projects, but juggling writing plus the rest of my life seems to be about all I can manage.

I have two projects on the go – one writing and one editing. That works for me right now. Who knows how long it will, but I’m enjoying it while it does.

Once I’ve got a draft, I can start thinking about other things again. Editing is really a different process and I don’t need that obsessive focus. (Part of the obsessiveness is the -oh sh*t, i only have a little time before school starts again and I’ll be TAing!- which is actually wonderful motivation for getting things done.) So when I’m in the editing stages I can also be in the ‘create, create, create’ mode. And then, when I’m ready for something new, I go back to those 5-page files and see if any of them can be watered and sprouted into a real project.

But working on multiple projects all in the writing stage always ends with stories being abandoned in the culvert by the side of the road. And if, say, they are serialized fanfics, you end up with a lot of irritated readers.

I also took up outlining to help with this. A stack of half-finished outlines doesn’t matter, because it showed the idea had no staying power.

I do go off on too many complete tangents. But sometimes I need to go off on one briefly, to avoid getting into the habit of block when the main project’s going nowhere. These days I channel that a bit better, by doing stuff in a different mode – poetry, song, rambling – but generally the same setting, so at very least I get some new sidelights on the main world. The mode-change also leavens any sense of plodding.

The other thing about poems and songs – and presumably pictures and craftings, for those with such skills – is that they’re much more finite, and whilst not obviously useful in terms of publication, do have the excellent property of getting quickly finished.

I still chase after the shiny too much, though.