Pick a day, any day…and I will tell you which manuscripts I am working on. Yes, you heard me right…manuscripts. Why would you have more than one WIP (work in progress)? Well, the simple answer is that different people work at different paces and in different ways. For me, the story ideas come faster than I can sit down and finish a novel beginning to end. So, how many manuscripts am I working on? And what are they?
The One I’m Editing. I’m always working through doing editing on a manuscript I just finished. As it just so happens, today I finished my edits on the one I have been working on for a while. So, it’s about ready to click that send button and be queried to agents/publishers. Yay! Editing is…not my favorite. But thankfully, I don’t do it every day. I split my time between editing and writing, so that I can still breathe.
The One I’m Writing. I’m always working on writing something. My current WIP is about halfway done, which is where I like to be when I finish up one edit. Now I can split my time between editing the first half of this manuscript and writing the ending half. This manuscript is requiring a lot more research than most, so it’s coming along slower than normal.
The One I’m Plotting/Researching. I’m always thinking about the next one. When I’m about halfway through with the one I’m writing, an idea will come along, a spark, that will excite me and give me a storyline for another book. Now that I’m not doing heavy editing on a whole different manuscript, I will start preliminary research for this next one. Fun stuff!
So, there it is. Three WIPs going at one time. Different places in each. Now, this may be just me, or maybe there are other writers out there like this. I don’t know. But it is my process and it works for me. You have to find what works for you and go with it. Happy Writing!