Take It From Your Heart, Put It In Your Hand

My fellow writers: HELP.

I feel like my brain is overloaded. ("It doesn't take much," you joke. Hardy har har.) In all seriousness, I feel very, very creative at the moment. I have tons of ideas and characters and inspirations to draw from. The problem is that they're like little kids pushing out the doors on the last day of school. They're crowding each other and shouting over each other and I'm finding it hard to let any particular idea out onto the page because they all seem equally intriguing and exciting.

There is, of course, the third installment in my Compass Rose Trilogy, Due South, (more on that later) and the YA novel I've literally been dreaming about for at least a year now. Both plots are outlined, characters solid, and everything's ready to roll. But then there are the new kids - a story loosely based on devil mythology, and one about a priest, both of which would not take place in the Magi's world but would be good brothers to it.

My ideas are neither here nor there, however. My problem is choosing between them.

...or do I have to?

I will admit, when I write, I write the book from start to finish and don't skip around. I've also never worked on more than one important work at once. I can write short stories or fanfiction while I'm writing a novel, but never two novels at once. I'm always way too involved in one world to do that and it seems preposterous! (That may be because I write fantasy primarily and therefore have to be very involved in that world.)

So, fellow writers, have you worked on two novels at once? Was it hard to balance them? Did you feel like you weren't giving both of them enough focus? Did you find that one eventually became the predominant work?

Answer me, because I'm considering doing this but I honestly can't wrap my head around it, the idea is so foreign to me.

And now, something that has nothing to do with the rest of this blog post: I just want to throw this out there. While I've been planning and researching for Due South, I've also gone back and re-read most of From East to West, and I hope I don't sound arrogant in saying this but... I really hope True North gets picked up someday so that From East to West can get published as well. As it's the second in the series, it can't really stand alone, but DAMN is it good. It is really good. Even though it hasn't been edited yet, it's already tighter and better written than anything I've produced before, and the plot and characters... so riveting. I'm sure I'm biased, but really there is so much in the book to love: romance, angst, betrayal, lust, greed, hope, philosophy...

I just love it, okay? And not that True North isn't a great book, because it is, but it's just a warm up to the rest of the series, as I KNOW Due South will be just as good, if not better, than From East to West. Therefore, True North needs to get published so everyone will know the awesomeness of From East to West and Due South.

And that's that.