One of the joys (and problems) with being a creative person is the limitless number of possible projects out there. Every idea could generate another fun thing to do.
My personal problem is that I often act on my ideas before I’ve finished previous ones. It isn’t that I don’t ever finish a project, it’s more about the shiney object catching my eye.
So, I find myself with a wealth of projects on the go with a distinct shortage of time to work on them all. What to do?
I’ve decided to sit down and prioritize everything. What has a solid deadline and when, which ones are waiting on other people, which have people waiting on me and so on. Since I know I need deadlines to complete things, I have set a deadline of June 30th to have the prioritization in place.
Then I will work through the projects, one by one, based on the priorities I’ve set. I’ve also set a brief moratorium on reading. I’m using my iPad to write until I’ve cleared some of the backlog rather than reading new stuff. That will help too.
Oh yeah, and I’m not developing any new ideas until I get the one’s I’m already working on under control.
It’s not a bad problem to have. It just feels like I’m spinning my wheels because I’m not seeing the movement I expect.
I think the plan will work. It certainly won’t hurt and I might just get a few of these stories done and available.
How do you handle too many ideas and not enough time?
I don’t. 🙂 I’m in the same boat you are Mike. I have started 4 short stories within the last couple months, and have yet to finish them. I’m also trying to rewrite a novel so I can get it to beta redears and then podcast it by 11/11/11. I realized that if I’m really going to do that then something needs to change. I’ve been inspired by your iPad wordcount posts. Now I’m taking a half hour lunch break everyday instead of working through lunch. I have with my my AlphaSmart Neo (a keyboard with a small display for writing) and I go into a small lobby area that no one is ever in and it’s quiet and I write. I’ve only done it once for 19 minutes so far, but that yeilded 500+ words, so I’m excited to see how many I can get in a full half hour. Right now, any progress is exciting to me. Ever since our third child was born, writing has been about a half hour a week if I’m lucky, so this new plan should give me much better results and not cut into family time. Best of luck with all your stories, I can’t wait to read them!
That’s awesome, Dan! It may not feel like much when you’re used to writing much more every day, but those little bits of progress add up in a hurry. I hadn’t been making much progress on my work until I started using my iPad during my commute. Now it feels like everything is on track again.