Shifting priorities & changing projects--part 2.

So I'm continuing to chew over this whole thing where I'm changing projects and focuses. After I posted that about going away from LDS fiction yesterday, I had some sadness because I really am genuinely excited about the LDS contemporary story I'm working on right now. I am not kidding when I say I also love LDS fiction. And because I'm excited about that one right now, I should write it right now instead of setting it aside for several months or longer & having to come back and re-remember what I intended and get that whole train started again.

I have decided (and this is a tentative decision because it seems crazy to me) that what i need to do is work on both of them. I'm going to switch off every other day, working on one, then the other. That way I can finish them pretty much together, and that actually solves a big worry I've had. It's actually kind of an answer to prayer, I think. I've been praying about how to work on being a great writer for my current publisher but also placing a general fiction where it belongs. Finishing two novels at the same time is kind of a brilliant solution to the problem. And that's all I'm going to say about that for dipolomatic and legal reasons :)

But that means I need to ramp up the writing routine. I figure, if I decide to do 2000 words a day instead of 1100, and I am completely disciplined about not skipping even one day, and I write on Saturday as well as weekdays, that means I'm going to finish two novels in about the same time I've been able to finish one. It will mean probably writing for about 2 and a half hours per day.

That may be difficult. It means I'll be typing while nursing. Thanks to the inventor of the Boppy pillow, that is actually a possibility. It also means I'll be typing while nursing and also fielding questions from my kids about schooling, probably getting up to help them with things, and pause for moments at a time to discipline/make sure they're doing what they should be doing. But that's nothing new. I've had to be a writer that is interruptable. Kids come first.

Anyway. I'm kind of excited at the thought of becoming a bit more professional in my routine. If I write 2000 words per day, that means when I'm back down to writing just a novel at a time, I'll be finishing a couple of novels a year instead of just one. That may actually be necessary, if I end up with books in different venues/publishers. Which I really hope to do. In the perfect world, I'd write LDS fiction for Cedar Fort and Fantasy fiction for a more general well known national publisher. I don't know if that's even allowed. I hope so because that's what I'd love if I could just do it my way all the way.

Another plus about all this is, I finish my fantasy manuscript, and then I can really take time to be patient finding the right agent or publisher, because at the same time I'll be writing and publishing books with Cedar Fort and it's not like my career is on hold while I wade through rejections and then, when someone accepts me, wait the years until a book is actually published in a national market.

So this is a good thing. But it means writing really will be a part time job for me. I've been kind of waffling--doing what "feels right" in the moment, skipping days now and then. But I really need to focus and decide this is a job. Important, that I can't just shove aside whenever anything comes up. I had some inspiration during a temple session a while ago that sort of supports this decision to make it more serious. So... yeah. It all makes sense the way things do when you're finding the right answers. I hope.