I find myself going to Montreal...

[msagara]

On fairly short notice, for the weekend. For ConCept, which is the 13-14th of November.

I've been thinking a bit about a couple of questions asked elsewhere, vis a vis writing, and will post when I get home; I'm leaving on the overnight train (and mourning the loss of my beloved sections; they've changed their trains, and now offer rooms and deluxe rooms, but no sections!), and will arrive at some very early hour, which is made bearable only by the promised company.

I'm attempting to pack now. I am discovering the writing-avoidance, like packing-avoidance, is built-in. Saw cristalia at work today, where, in discussing the "post a line from a work in progress" meme on LJ, I expressed my utter astonishment at just how many works people have in progress at one time. I was never, ever capable of this; call it over-focus. The most that I will have "in progress" at one time are two projects -- and in that case it's because I've put the one in project on hold to meet a different deadline, which I will meet before returning to the work in progress. I didn't always tend to be quite so focused; there was a time when I could work on both a novel and a short story (but only one of each) at the same time, doing one in the morning and the other in the evening. That would be my definition of multi-tasking; I've never had a dozen projects on the go at the same time.

To everyone who has more than one, how does that work for you?

More later.

Comments

ADHD and multi-tasking

[domynoe.livejournal.com]

For me, multiple works is almost a necessity. I actually only get things done if I can "control" my distractibility. I'm ADHD and have most of the classic symtoms for adults - high distractibility and difficulty in finishing long term projects being the ones with the most profound affect on my life and my writing. I'm fortunate that I don't have the hyperactivity component to a high degree. I also tend to think of at least a dozen things at the same time at about 100 miles per hour (seriously, I did a timed stream of consciousness exercise once and it was just plain frightening what went through my mind in the space of 10 minutes that I could capture on paper . . . and knowing there was a whole lot more than I couldn't is even more frightening!). The upside of the way my brain works is great creativity and lots of cool ideas; the down side of the way my brain works is great creativity and lots of ideas. ;) Multiple projects also help control the boredom factor most people with ADHD have to deal with as well.

When I finally figured out how I need to write (which sounds odd, I'm sure), I focused on one book so I could work with the process without getting confused by being in different places in different books. Since then, I've decided that it might be best to work on all the books in a single series at once if possible so I can deal with the foreshadowing, make sure all the books involved will work plot-wise (which heps me determine if anything needs to be combined), and keep them as fairly consistent as possible. I also usually have at least 3 or more shorts in process - but these get fast drafted (rough draft written as fast as possible), set aside, revised, set aside, revised, posted to my crit group, etc. Shorts can actually take me over a year to get done even though the fast draft is finished in one sitting.

How do I work with multiple projects? I guess the best way to describe it is to say each is a break from the others. I work on one in high focus until I'm tired of it, frustrated with it, or too distracted to deal with whatever level that project is at, then I switch to one of the others. Which one depends on where the project is at and why I need to switch. When I'm ready I go back to the previous project (and it's usually the ones in the most intense phase of revising for me - the line by line, language stuff - that I need a break from).

While this actually helps me keep at a project that I might just toss aside (and all of them would eventually get tossed aside if I stayed on them too long, so it's not a project-specific problem), it has the downside of making the overall process slower. So, my first book is still in revision while I work on the nitty stuff.

All of which probably didn't explain much and helped even less. lol