Megan Danvers

Hey there, readers! It’s me again, back with a discussion on writing and inspiration. More specifically, what happens when you’re in the middle of writing one project but then you get this shiny new idea that takes up your entire mind.

We’ve all been there. We writers know and dread the moment a new idea overtakes our thoughts and steals our attention away from our current WIPs. I recently had that happen where I got an idea for a YA Science Fantasy trilogy because of this one episode—and more precisely, this one character—from an episode of The Owl House. Ever since that idea struck me I’ve been focused on outlining as much of it as I can rather than focusing that attention on writing my current projects or outlining the immediate upcoming projects on my writing docket so to speak.

Because that’s the thing. Us writers get inspiration for new stories all the time and in the time it takes us to finish one draft of one project, we develop a backlog of ideas just waiting to be written. And if you’re like me and planning to go the traditionally published route where it’s advised that you stick to one genre or age category for a bit before branching out so you can develop an author brand, you know how hard it is to force yourself to put that shiny new idea on the backburner… the very backburner. Like, you’re currently working on the first of a trilogy and you have at least five other trilogy concepts to go through before you can get around to writing in the shiny new idea’s genre/category. Yeah. That’s me.

It can be hard to shelve an idea for later and remind yourself to get back to work on the current or immediate next project. But of course, this isn’t to say you can’t put a bit of thought into that shiny new idea. After all, we’ve all had sparks of creativity and inspiration only to forget them later because we didn’t write them down, no matter how much we loved the concept initially. It’s good to jot down some notes on the new idea first so you can come back to it later. No one’s saying you can’t give this little spark a bit of fuel so the fire hasn’t gone out once you’re ready to write it.

What is being said is that you need to learn to rein it in and dial it back before you just take off running with an idea, leaving your current WIP in the dust to be forgotten about for months or even years. I know. Such a hard thing for us writers to do. But do it we must!

Now, I’m still struggling with this concept myself I admit. But here’s what I’m thinking might work to get us writers focused on our actual projects instead of those shiny new ideas. Two words. Reward system.

We’ve all heard those words. “If I write a thousand words, I’ll reward myself with a slice of cake.” But the thing is, for me, nothing really gets me excited in this way. Books, TV, movies, nothing works as a reward for me. But what I do think could work as a reward for me and might even work for some of you, is using that shiny new idea as the reward to actual work. For example, “If I write 500 words a day every day this week, I’ll do a bit outlining on that shiny new idea.” or, “If I finish outlining this next project, I’ll reward myself with a bit of character creation for this shiny new idea.” This way, you can get some work in while letting yourself indulge a bit in that new spark of creativity.

It’s just a thought. Maybe it’ll work. Maybe it won’t. Knowing my self-control and discipline probably the latter, let’s be real. Unfortunately, for those of you who also lack self-discipline, I have no advice for you as I have already mentioned that I struggle with it. But who knows, maybe us undisciplined writers can finally learn some discipline with this method of shiny new idea as reward…

Or maybe not. Either way, it seems like a plausible idea to get us more motivated to do the hard work on the other projects instead of those shiny new ideas. That’s all for now. Peace out, readers!