I am a Big Huge Slacker

So this post is all about me slacking off.

Granted, it's a holiday weekend, and also granted, I spent a good chunk of one day this week helping a friend move. And I did get the one short story done (finally) and sent off, and another one that got rejected turned around. (One of the best rejection letters I've gotten so far, too.) And I had two job interviews.

But, all in all, I've slacked off.

I haven't been writing. I haven't even been doing research, not that doing research is an excuse.

My brain keeps bouncing around between three or four projects, and won't settle on any one of them. Which is totally my fault, because if I were being a disciplined writer I would just sit down with one of them and start working on it, regardless of how I felt about doing so.

Truth to tell, especially with first draft, the work you do when you are dragging each word kicking and screaming out of your head is just as good as the work you do when you're totally inspired and write for eight hours straight. It's just that the latter is a whole lot more fun than the former, and I find it somewhat more productive volume-wise also. But even on a bad day there is no reason why I can't hit my average of 500 words an hour.

Project 1 is historical and probably requires more research, but I've been ignoring all the books I got from the library, and frankly I know enough for work on the first draft. It also needs some plot work in the second half. Project 2 has the best plot development so far, but it needs more world-building - maybe. It may not, and I just think it does. That one will probably be the easiest to work on. Project three needs a plot. Actually, preferably several plots, and some more characters too. Project 4 is really just pure world-building, because I already have several short stories I want to do with it, but the world-building is going to be a lot of work. It's fun work, but hard, and I have a hard time getting started on it. Or getting back to it, rather. And I keep wanting to do it all up like a role-playing game, and then I get distracted with trying to figure out the rule system...

When I finished working on my novel, I fully expected to start work on the prequel, which is Project 1. But I've been having so much fun with the short stories, and I've come up with such fun ideas, that it's hard to go back to that mindset. I mean, I do miss the main character, but the variety is awfully nice.

So I think my goal for this weekend is to definitively decide on a project to start on Monday. I'll let you know which one wins.