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| Photo credit: buechertiger on Flickr |
Every so often on Twitter, I will come across a writer drafting multiple WIPs at once.
While this shouldn’t surprise me, as I’ve heard of more than a handful of writers (both published and not) who work in much the same way, the discovery inevitably merits raised eyebrows on my part and proud smiles (or fits of nervous laughter) from the other writer.
I am forever in awe of writers who can pull this off.
You see, I am a very focused person, particularly when it comes to writing and reading. While I often have works marinating in my hard drive for later reworking, when it comes to first drafting or editing, I focus all of my energies on that one WIP. I immerse myself in the story entirely and shut out the rest of my writings until I’ve finished a round of editing, or writing, or whatever the case may be.
What trips me up, I think, is jumping between story worlds. While it clearly works for some writers, it’s something that I find rather jarring.
I’m the same way with reading. Unless two books are entirely different (ergo: a writing craft book and a novel), I don’t often jump between stories, although I do make exceptions. This does occasionally mean that I’ll fall behind in my reading goal when I hit a book that I’m having trouble getting through, but that’s another matter altogether.
Despite my aversion to working on multiple WIPs at once, however, I am well aware that many writers work well jumping from work to work. And so I’m interested to hear from you.
Do you work on multiple WIPs at once? Why or why not?
Twitter-sized bites:
Writers: Do you write multiple WIPs at once? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae’s blog! (Click to tweet)
Are you a hyper-focused writer, or do you prefer to work on several WIPs at once? (Click to tweet)
