Yesterday, I had coffee with my good friend and fellow writer Heather Demetrios to catch up on life and talk about all things writerly. And while all of our conversation was truly fun and enriching, one thing I kept thinking about after I left is the balance between current projects and future projects. Or perhaps more precisely, choosing what project you want to pursue next, and how to know that that's the one you should go with.
For me, this subject has been on my mind because while I still have a long way to go in the revision of my current novel, the deadline for my spring mentorship proposal is fast approaching. The way that my MFA program at Simmons works, this year, my second and final year of the degree, consists of two intensive mentorships in which you work on two different manuscripts during the two respective semesters. Thus, the need to be aware of what I am going to do next, and to select what I feel is the "best" project from my list of potential ideas, has definitely been a real pressure that I've felt over the past few months.
Similarly for Heather, who is completing her MFA at VCFA, she, too, must choose a project to work on next. And, as a 2014 debut author with her YA novel Streaming, feels the even added pressure of wanting to produce a great second novel that will be a strong follow up to her first. Of course, I am confident that she will absolutely succeed in this, but I completely understand the stress that comes with choosing your next project. The endeavor of writing a novel mandates a large amount of time and commitment. And while some people can balance writing several things at once, the reality of doing that with working in a full-time (or even part-time), and doing that well, becomes a real challenge. Never mind the fact that when you have a list of projects you want to pursue, you want to take into account the market and what you think will most likely sell, especially as a yet unpublished or debut author.
So as we talked about all our worries yesterday, and as I left to return home to my work, I realized that this pressure, this uncertainty, is something we will probably always have to deal with. No one knows for sure that one book will sell over the next. Or that this project should take precedent over that one. And it is this decision making process that will probably always keep our minds spinning as we consider our upcoming works. But, this is not something that necessarily has to hold us back, or paralyze us from producing good work. If handled the right way, it is something that can only make us better.
See, I think Heather and I both come from the camp of "write more, and write more, now!" For better or for worse, we will probably always be the overachieving sort who go for the things we want and never want to quit anything, no matter how hard something might become, and then move onto the next one. And productivity wise, this can be a great quality, but emotionally, sometimes it is simply exhausting. So ultimately, like most things, choosing what to work on next must come down to a balance. On one hand, it is good to write with an eye toward the market — considering what is out there and what isn't, what holes you can fill, and what audience you're after. But at the same time, you need to go with what you feel most passionate about, or the story you know in your heart you need to write, regardless of the trends of what you think is likely to get bought.
The writing we do has to come from us. And even though I know I so desperately want my writing to be read and to affect other people, my writing will always need to be not just from me, but for me, too. We need to write for ourselves; for the love we have of literature and for the stories that we are just dying to tell. We need to write knowing that one manuscript might not go anywhere, but that we'll still keep on writing anyway. Maybe your first, or second, or third or fourth book doesn't get a lot of attention, or maybe doesn't even get bought. For all of us, that is a slight scary reality. So you want to make sure that especially now, as a newer or even more established author, each project you work on is a project you're really invested in, not just one you think will get you ahead.
The hard truth is that there are no guarantees. Being a writer is not a path for someone who is looking for security and certainty. As as someone who likes to plan out everything, I can say, it can be totally hard. So choosing the book you really want to write is something that will help sustain you on the long journey of writing.
We ultimately do this because we love this, right? And loving your book will help you want to keep going — in this project and in the next. And having some good writer-friends by your side, to work through your worries and your ideas, definitely won't hurt, either!
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