Writing Times Three

Lately, I feel like all I've been posting are Book Banter reviews. I read a lot in January and I like doing reviews, but I thought I should shake things up a little bit on here and talk about writing.

Being co-editors is hard work. We must regain our strength.

The co-editing team of Gatsby and Mina will tell you that I'm still getting up at the crack of dawn to write. (They insist it's so I feed them, but that's just an added benefit. I swear.) Most mornings I'm writing fiction; today, admittedly, I'm writing blog posts. Gat is fully committed to this process by snoozing on my lap and Mina is hopping on and off the desk and expending kitten-ish energy that is enviable this early in the morning.

 Lately, the morning writing has been different because I'm not just working on one project. I'm working on several. Blog posts not withstanding, I've got my writing fingers in three and half projects.

There's the urban fantasy novel that was started back during NaNoWriMo 2009 and is still in process and I believe still viable. There's a collaborative short story project with a friend (who will be featured here in early March in author answers). And there's updates to the stuff I wrote for Advent as it's turning into maybe a novella and continuing to blow my mind (and I'm writing it) with it's 12 Monkeys-meets-Left Behind vibe that it's got. And the 1/2 project is a 4,500 chunk of that story for an anthology submission that has to stand on its own.

I ask myself is my mind feeling blown because I'm constantly switching back and forth? Maybe a little, I think. On the other hand, I kind of like the challenge because no one set of characters or plot has the opportunity to get stale. I work on one for a few days, finish a section, and then move to the next. And then back. You get the idea. (And there's the referee-ing between the co-editors when Mina takes to pouncing on Gat and using his tail as the Best Toy Ever.)

Being involved in multiple projects definitely keeps me on my toes in the morning. It's also a little exhausting, figuring out which thing gets top billing today, or this week.

Nevertheless, the important part is that my behind is still in the chair in the morning and my fingers (when not being chewed on by Mina) are still typing away. I'm still writing. Nothing is ever going to get finished if I don't continue this very basic process.

So here I am. Writing by 6 a.m., every weekday. Your guess as to which thing it is today.