I used to think linearly in my writing–work on one project until it’s done, and then start the next one.
More recently, I’ve found two big benefits from having multiple current projects at once.
First, it enables me to stay more consistently creative. Knowing that I have several things to work on keeps the creative fire burning.
Second, I am more efficient and productive in my writing. Even when the projects might be very different in style, form, or function, the fact that they’re all active allows me to switch gears when my creative impulse for one project is used up.
Knowing what I want to say with each creative project is important to this approach: otherwise it would be easy to cross pollinate ideas into projects where they don’t belong. But with that established, I find I’m most effective when I’m writing two or three or four projects at once. This is all, of course, on top of several other creative practices that keep me moving forward every day – my daily post here, my lunch notes for my kids, the ensembles I conduct.
(Indeed, I have finished three big and very different writing projects in the last three weeks! If you’d like to help me keep multiple projects active, let’s talk about working together.)