Today’s title is a bit misleading. It makes it sound like I’ve got so much stuff that I need to write that I don’t have enough time to do it, but that’s not the issue!

I mentioned in my last post, that I need to figure out what to work on next. With much shame, I’m here to admit that I still haven’t figured it out yet. What I really want to do is continue working on Penumbra, since it’s so close to being done. But I’m leaving the manuscript alone for until at least the end of the week so that when I got back for polish I can have relatively fresh eyes on it. Plus, at this point, that’s the safe option. It’s a story that’s developed and in many ways is pretty much finished, so it’s so much easier to continue working on that than it is to start something else.

My friend Rob mentioned that, fear of getting started on a new project is probably an aspect of being a discovery writer, and I think I agree! Making a story click is a lot of work, and when you go into writing as a discovery writer you have to accept the fact that you’re probably going to end up cutting or changing 80% of the words that you put down on paper. Penumbra is about 85k words right now, and I’ve probably written 400k words getting to to where it is. So starting something new… it’s scary! When you’re looking at a new project from the beginning all you’re seeing is that there is so much work that needs to get put in to eventually finish it.

To make things worse, I tend to do a ton of research and all of the projects I want to start are definitely going to be research intensive. So it’s just not a matter of choosing what to start, it’s a matter of choosing where to start. As a whole, it just makes choosing that much harder.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing some work on a YA thriller series I’ve had ideas for. But I’ve not dedicated a lot of effort into it yet.

In any case, Penumbra has been out for about two weeks now to test readers. A handful of people have finished it already and I’ve gotten some good feedback. Mostly that’s been positive, but I’ve also heard back on some good areas that need work or have bits I’ve forgotten. That’s one of the reasons I want to get back to work on it! But I’m holding strong.

I’ve also been working on some reviews for a website I’m going to start contributing to that does board game reviews: http://www.theplayersaid.com. Something to keep in mind that writing is writing, and doing anything is beneficial. So it may not be a fiction project, but it’s still good practice, especially since persuasive, non-fiction writing isn’t something I get much practice on anymore since I finished school.