Plates in the Air

April is my favorite month for writing because it's typically the month I sign up for summer conferences and plan where my writing is going for the duration of the year. The NJ SCBWI conference is by far my favorite, but I also investigate writing retreats and summer contests. As a teacher I'm afforded the luxury of being a mostly full-time author in the summer.

​But as I make these plans I also block out which projects take priority, and every year I ask myself if it's wise to embark on two, three, sometimes even four writing adventures simultaneously. The same questions flash through my mind.

Would I be more productive if I just buckled down with one piece at a time?
​Will the projects become repetitive?
​Do characters hop from one work to the next?
​Is splitting my attention essentially heading down a rabbit hole of never finishing anything?

​And every April I arrive at the same answer. Absolutely not. While I can't speak for every writer, I know that laser focus on one project for me leads to writer's block and burnout. My writing blurs much the same way my eyes do if I stare at one thing too long. And while I keep a writing routine (writing every morning for at least two hours) working on the same project exclusively makes my passion fall into the landscape and becomes a task as tedious as cleaning the bathrooms and wiping down kitchen counters.

​That being said, there are a few tips and tricks I use to keep projects organized up in the air simultaneously.

​Physical Space: I keep the projects in separate binders or separate folders, color-coded so they carry their own visual cues. Just the different appearance often is enough to help my brain transition from one project to the next, particularly if the colors relate to the tone and vibe of the work.

​Temporal Space: I never work on things back to back and minimally give myself an hour or two of physical work to cleanse my creative palate. I am by no means an avid exercise gal, but nothing allows me to reframe my focus like walking the dog or funning a few errands.

​Emotional Space: The mood of the pieces matter. Rushing from a tragic piece to something cheery leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My mood matters, too. Multi-tasking my writing never works if I'm feeling overwhelmed in the other areas of my life. Doing so is akin to trying to parent my children simultaneously when both have different needs and different joys and challenges. If major problems in the 'real' world are at play, I've got to clear out those cobwebs before my fictional worlds can take flight.

​Market Space: This one is touchy. By market space I really mean do these projects have a finality to them? Are they being entered in contests or submitted to agents? Have I given thought to where they'll go, or are they balloons in the wind with no real direction? Multiple open-ended projects can induce a sense of frenzy. If none have deadlines or take priority over the others, they can easily become tangled.

​For me, multi-tasking my writing projects keeps them alive and keeps me on my toes. I know it's not for everyone, but that's ok. As with parenting, teaching, and the other facets of my life, I appreciate the fact that as I get older I learn how to best do each to suit my skills and challenges.

​Happy writing!