I Have So Many Ideas . . . What Do I Do?

Today I'm ditching my novelist persona and turning into an advice columnist. No promises that I'll be giving good advice, but I'm going to try haha. It's also a way for me to offer advice for myself because I've struggled plenty on my own with the dilemma I'm about to introduce to you.

So many people have told me they think it'd be cool if they were a writer but they just don't know how to commit to one idea. They have like three or four different book ideas and don't know where to start. They say they start one and get bored and then feel like they need to move on to another one and they never finish anything.

Commitment is hands down one of the biggest essentials when it comes to writing a book. I also am struggling with this right now. I have books to revise and go back to that I wrote when I was younger and I have newer ideas that I want to write. It's never-ending.

What I do is I pick one idea and I stick to that idea until I at least have a full rough draft done. There are definitely writers out there who can multi-task and write ten different novels at once. I'm simply not one of those writers. I've tried the multitasking thing, and let's just say it was a messy result for me. I have to focus on one novel so that I know I can finish something. Then I put it away before going back to it and start on the next thing.

It's a hard thing to do, and honestly, I think it separates the people who desire to be a writer from actual writers. Actual writers need to finish their manuscript. They will do whatever it takes to finish it. In fact, it will keep them up at night knowing they haven't made it to their resolution yet.

Think of it like a movie. Not finishing it is like leaving the movie theatre early and wasting the money you spent to watch the whole thing. Not finishing a novel is like that. You don't even get to get to the good parts. You miss all the conflict and the climax and you have no idea where your favorite characters end up. I take enjoyment in writing the whole manuscript, and so do all or most writers. They enjoy the process. Writing is like a movie to me. It entertains me, and if I get bored, I know I need to revise.

And let me tell you, revising is a whole other story. Most writers don't like that process. At least I don't. A lot of people think the writing process is the hard part to write all those words, but I disagree. It goes by fast when you're having fun. The hard part is the revising and having to take your words that you've grown attached to and change them and even delete them.

In case you're a new writer and I'm terrifying you about revising, don't worry. I've actually seen that the more novels I write and the more confident I get in my own unique writing style, the less revising I have to do; though it always depends. Don't worry about it now, if you finish a rough draft, you can revise.

So my biggest advice is to imagine your book like a movie. Imagine it's your favorite movie of all time. Do you really want to limit yourself to half a movie?

For me that's like watching the burglars break into Kevin's house in Home Alone without getting to see the hilarious parts where Kevin, the little kid, beats up the adults with his clever traps.

It's not something I want to miss . . .