No New Projects

I’m bad at finishing things.

This is, I’m aware, a symptom of one of my sundry mental illness diagnoses, the constant starting of new projects and then losing steam/interest midway and abandoning them. It’s part of why I’ve always been more successful at writing short stories than anything longer form.

But I’ve got a new first draft going, and I’m liking the idea and the voice of my protagonist and I want to see how it ends. So I’m making a rule:

No New Projects Until This First Draft Is Done.

The writing is going well, but then it always goes well in the beginning, but I refuse to let the middle become a sticking point this time. I know how it ends, I want to see the journey to get there.

I know I can finish a novel, I’ve done it, oh, about three times already, but those were in the rush of NaNoWriMo for the most part and the drafts I ended up with were messy and borderline incoherent, to say the least. I’m going to let this one take its time and get where it wants on its own schedule, but I’m not going to interrupt it with new things. I, the obsessive multitasker, must learn to single task.

One draft. One story. To completion. Let’s go.