Limbo

I'm having trouble settling on a writing project, because I feel like I'm floating in a bit of writer's limbo. Why, you ask? I have two big projects out and expect to hear on both in the near future. I have another editor who asked me to help out with an upcoming chapter book series...starting any day. And I've recently emerged from complete immersion in another book project, written as my entry for the Writing Away Retreat scholarship contest.

Part of the trouble is that I can't quite settle on what project to pick up next. My head tells me that this might be a good time to tackle one of those article ideas on my shelf. They're good ideas, have an excellent shot of publication (IF I write them), and wouldn't a short-term project be best when I've got other big tasks around the corner? My heart tells me to dive back into the Peru book, which has been unattended far too long. I sifted through my notes and edits yesterday. I had twenty or so new pages that I hadn't even printed out! And I have vague memories of making life-altering plot decisions during my trip East (not so many weeks ago)...but I can't remember, exactly, what those plot decisions entailed.

And then there's the ever-distracting Authonomy site, where I can read others' work and try to nudge my own farther up the scale...except that the work I posted there isn't my best writing, so I'm not 100% engaged in the effort. And I think you have to be 100% engaged to gain full benefit from the site.

The solution? I'll pick up the Peru book again today and see how much I can recapture of those half-remembered plot decisions. I'm not ready to resume writing; I need to reacquaint myself with the characters, theme, and so on first. I'll see what I can do today.

But maybe that's what writing is all about--seeing what we can do, one day at a time.

:) Cheryl