photo courtsey of pixabay on pexels
Hi, and welcome back to Blonde Girl Writing! Today I’ll be talking about one thing I struggle with: balancing all of my shiny new ideas for writing.
If you’re a writer like me, you probably have also dealt with this. You’re working on a project—maybe even two or three—when all of a sudden you get a new idea or find a prompt that really inspires you.
So what should you do–focus on the new idea? Try to work on your project(s) and the new idea at the same time?
Well, today I’m going to give you a few tips on how you can balance all your writing ideas while still working on your major projects.
#1: Write the idea down when it comes to you.
The first thing you should do when you get a new idea is write it down.
It doesn’t matter where you do it—a notebook, a doc on your laptop, a note on your phone—but make sure that you write it.
That way, you don’t forget it, but you also don’t have it taking up space that should belong to your actual works in progress.
#2: Spend some time describing the idea.
After you’ve written down the idea, you should take some time to write about it.
You can write as much or as little as you want, but make sure that you take time to focus on the idea. Otherwise, it will distract you from your main project by begging to be written.
On that note, don’t get so invested in your new idea that you never work on your main project. Make sure that you balance both so you don’t feel bad about lack of progress in either.
Don’t worry, everyone struggles with this, and no one will ever be perfect at it. You know yourself better than anyone, so find a balance that works for you. For me, I need a schedule to sort out when to work on my current project and when to work on other stuff.
#3: Save the writing so you can look at it later.
Once the newness of the idea has faded and you’ve stopped writing about it, save what you’ve written for later.
Maybe you’ll never work on it again; maybe you’ll continue it at a later date. But save it so you can return to what you’ve written another time.
#4: Revisit your writing at a later date.
Finally, at some later date, look back at what you wrote.
I personally love looking back at my old writing, just to see how far I’ve come and how I could improve it.
And even if you’re not as sentimental about your writing as I am, looking back at old writing shows that you have grown, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
Well, I hope these tips on focusing on new ideas when they come while balancing your current projects helped you!
If you don’t remember anything else, hear this: focus on new ideas until the newness has faded.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!
Best wishes,
~ Jonah
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