Ever since I embarked on this writing journey, I have questioned my sanity more times than I can count with my fingers and toes. I come up with all these great ideas and plans, but they fizzle out when reality hits with the time involved. See, I inherited this wonderful trait from my dad: start projects and never complete them. Or take an eternity getting to the finish line. It’s such a problem for me that one year I set out to complete several unfinished projects. I declared it a “Year of Completion” and blogged about it here on my personal blog. That’s why I try not to have too many going at one time. It seems I’m not as good at multi-tasking as I believe myself to be. So here I am, once again. This time with three big writing projects all at once. Repeat after me, “Pam, what are you thinking?”
With the pressure of updating readers on the progress of these projects, my goal is that they will be completed sooner rather than later. Did I also mention that I’m slow? Ok, I’m getting off topic, which is a blog discussion for another day. So here is a synopsis of each project that you, the reader, can look forward to hearing more about.
A Mystery
This is my oldest work in progress. It started about eight to ten years ago without getting very far on it. I picked it up again two years ago and made serious advancement the past two Novembers during the fiasco known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It’s also the longest project, a full-length book about a detective and his partner who are cutting their homicide skills on the mayor’s murder. Benji Gera, the main character, has to accept his past in order to face the future by taking risks. It is currently without a name, so as I near completion of the first draft, I might just need your help in picking a title.
A Love Story
A short story in the editing stage, this is another story that needs a title. It’s a romance very loosely based on my grandparents. And I mean very loosely based, because I never knew my grandparents who passed away when I was very young. In fact, my grandmother was gone a few years before I was even a thought in my parents’ minds. It makes it pretty easy to embellish what little facts I know. Set around the turn of the 20th century, Beth, a young girl in rural Iowa, is in search of the truth about her father. What she doesn’t expect to find is love amid her search.
An Anthology
The newest project, “A Woman’s Journey to a Thousand Cats,” is a short story for a group project with some pretty cool writer friends I met online. I believe the title says it all for this one. The title and idea came from a friend of mine when I was telling her the theme of this project was “journeys.” There very well could be another story created for this anthology, but we’ll see once I get the rough draft of this one completed.
Like most people, I don’t seem to have enough time to do everything I want to do, or even need to do. Balancing a work, personal, and writing life is a big challenge that I’m working on to discover what groove works for me. It may turn in to some late nights beyond my bedtime, like this post. But knowing you are following my projects will help me stay accountable and on track. Now that you know what I’m up to with my writing life, please check back at least once a month to check in on what’s happening.
Which one of those stories do you anticipate reading?
Both. So exciting
Thanks for replying, Gwen! I’m excited to finish the story based on my grandparents. Even if it doesn’t ever get published, it’s something I can give to family members for their enjoyment.
I would love to read the mystery
Mysteries are my favorite too, Karen. We’ll have to chat sometimes about our favorite mystery authors. We just might be able to share some new ones with each other.
Pam, this is a great blog post and I can so relate. Trying to balance it all is quite a feat. I used to pride myself in being a multi-tasker, but I have read a few articles recently that actually say multi-tasking is not so great, and it’s better to focus on one task at a time.
So for me, when I write now, I shut off all distractions, like the internet, and focus on one writing project at a time. I try not to jump around too much in my allocated time slot, it seems to work better, at least for me.
Thanks so much for sharing and I would love to read your mystery too!
SK, I’ve said many times that I am my worst distraction. My mind can wander from one thing to another several times a minute. I have a print out of a focus motivational poster on my work office wall that I found online one day when I was having a really hard time focusing. That’s how bad it can be at times. 🙂 So shutting off all the outside distractions is only a part of the problem. Can’t exactly shut myself off! But I’m still in the stage of figuring out what works for me, and I’ll get there. Eventually. I’ve also learned that 30 minutes is about all the writing I can do at one time. So switching it up or doing something different for awhile helps me.