The thing about being an independently-published author (or at least journeying toward that goal – Magic Most Deadly, is so, so close to being ready!) is that you still have to be responsible about your writing.
By which I mean, if you have two books planned for this year, and two more planned for next, and you know that you are a slow enough writer it will take you all year to get those books written and ready for publication, you cannot, no matter how much you want to, hare off on a side trail and write something completely different. Because you have responsibilities just as surely as if you have a contract with an outside publishing house.
Which is why I am not writing that heavily female, POC, straight-up high fantasy quest-and-battle novel I want to write after seeing this, and reading this and this.
But I want to.
And so I am jotting down notes and character ideas and possible plots in my handy-dandy notebook here and there, as I think of it, and maybe, just maybe, once my self-imposed contracts are up, the spark will still be there and I will be able to write it. Or there’s even the possibility that I might be spurred to write these stories that much faster, so I can get to that one sooner.
In any case, it’s always nice to have inspiration bubbling, even if one can’t go chasing every will-o-the-wisp idea that floats across one’s path. Not, in any case, if one wishes to be that responsible writer one is trying so hard to achieve.
(I am also, in trying to be responsible, not taking up my Welsh language studies again. Though that has more to do with homeschooling/packing/moving/I have no time for a new time-consuming hobby than it does with writing!)
I dunno. What’s the point in being your own boss if you can’t change tracks just because you want to? You might find you need to write your kick-butt-chick epic fantasy in order to write your cosy fantasy mysteries that much better. I think what it really comes down to is “Which books are more important to you right now – the planned ones, or this one?” And then run with it. Or, you could write your planned books as “work”, and this one “for fun” in your “spare time” (of which homeschooling moms have so much, I know). Lots of possibilities… 🙂
The problem isn’t so much with the idea as it is with me, my personality. I know from past experience that if I let myself get distracted NOW by the fun new project, then six months down the road when I get yet another new idea, it’ll be too easy to drop the current story and go with the new one … and the next thing I know it’s been ten years and I have ten started-but-unfinished stories.
So, I have to be strict with myself. Since I’m a grown-up now and all, and don’t have anyone to be strict for me.
Oh I am so with you after looking at that gender-reversed Lord of the Rings casting! Or LOTR fan-fic from Eowyn’s point of view! Once in a while I have a new spin on an idea that jumps on me out of nowhere, threatening to interrupt my work in progress. I take notes like crazy, hoping it will stick with me.
Notes are VERY good.
Oh, yeah, I’d love an Eowyn-based story. But even more, I’d love to know more about Tom Bombadil and Goldberry.
Tom Bombadil and Goldberry do apparently feature in some of Tolkien’s poetry collections. I’ve never read them, but I remember hearing that he created the two of them long before writing LOTR, and wrote the poems, and then they sort of snuck into Fellowship without him really intending it. So there is more about them out there if you are interested!
That fantasy book would certainly take a lot of time. I enjoy fantasy, but I’m slow enough as it is without tackling the genre. It would take me five years to produce a book!
High fantasy really is a slow genre, more so than most others. I wonder why that is? Maybe because the world-building required is so intense? At any rate, that’s another good reason for me to not dive right in. Wait until I have a few books out already before taking between 2-5 years to produce one!
I blame the Muses. While trying to finish the novella, I was distracted multiple times … and had to say, “No, ya gimp, I have to finish THIS ONE.” LOL Luckily, I’m a fast writer, so I can get to the next idea rather easily LOL Still, the Muse has been flaky as all get out so far this summer …
Oh, those muses. Wish they would learn to stay focused!