The biggest problem with having all sorts of Big Ideas, as I rambled on and on about in my journal entry on Tuesday, is that I get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. Of course, this has just been a weird week anyway, with Elizabeth still feeling ill and lots of little chores around the house keeping me busy (not that those 2 things have anything to do with one another... yeah, right!). I've not felt motivated to work on any fiction projects. Yep, I've been... sleeping in.

The horror, the horror.

I think there's a lesson in this for me -- in the words of Treebeard, "Don't. Be. Hasty."

I've got all these things I want to do, and only a limited amount of time each day to do them (basically an hour or two, early in the morning), and I've got to be realistic. I can't expect to write 250,000 words every year and 1) expect those words to be any good or 2) expect to have any brain cells left by year's end.

What I really want to do is slow down and enjoy writing fiction again.

Which means doing one or two projects at a time, if they complement each other (drafting one thing while I'm revising on another, f'r example). It means not trying to do everything at once and doing nothing WELL.

The problem is, I'm impatient and want to push myself harder. But if it's stuff I'm just rushing through just to be done, is it worth it? I want to ease off a bit on the accelerator and enjoy the drive, not be in the red trying to get to the destination. To further beat that metaphor, I want to get off the interstate and take the backroads and see some local color.

In any case, I think I know what Big Idea project I want to work on next -- the historical baseball novel.

That is, um, well, as soon as I finish revising the dark urban fantasy story and sending my feedback on the SF play to my partner-in-crime Aaron. By the end of May or even mid-June, I'd like to get the first three chapters of the baseball novel drafted. Everything else can wait. I gotta go with what I feel most passionate about. For now. ;) Later!