Skipping…

Last week my husband was gone to a conference (the first time we’ve been separated overnight since we were married 4 1/2 years ago!). While he was gone, Toby and I did ok until Wednesday, when we both woke up with runny noses. Oh yes, and I had a lovely sinus headache.

All my plans–keeping up with the housework, exercising, and getting extra writing done since Justin wasn’t home–were dashed. For the next couple of days Toby and I lazed around, ate cheese sticks, fruit, and veggies for almost every meal, and watched TV. A couple of days after Justin got home, I started feeling better and noticed just how messy the house had gotten. How had this happened in just a few days?

Then I remembered writing. And how far behind I was on my get-done-before-Realm-Makers list. So I dove in. The problem was, I quickly became frustrated because I had an inability to stay steady on one project. Instead, I bounced around like a toddler on caffeine. I had three different windows up on the computer, trying to simultaneously rewrite one story, edit another, and plot another.

I tend to have multiple projects going–usually a 1-draft or rewrite project alongside an editing project–and try to do a little on each one every day, but I have never before bounced from one project to the other because I couldn’t focus. Well, until last week, that it.

Over the weekend, I had to stop, take a deep breath, and remind myself that I couldn’t do everything all at the same time. One thing at a time. Head down, barrel through until you’re done. I feel as if I should already know this lesson. A couple of weeks ago, I barreled through a friend’s notes and my personal notes on Forged Steel in just three days. I’ve never done any sort of editing that fast before, but I know it was because I kept my focus tight.

Maybe I need to write that on a Post-It note and stick it on my monitor. FOCUS. ONE THING AT A TIME.

Do you have every problems with too much skipping back and forth between projects?