The important thing is to finish the ones that are itching to get finished. You can tell them by the way they get done.

I have really found the importance of organizing these ideas though. I figured it out the hard way when I had to sort through the graveyard. Organize yourself and don't rush it. But keep at it. Write when you can. I have created what I call plot sheets, where I write the background, character info, and a synopsis if I have one. Then everytime something new comes up I pull up th file and jot some notes. Every once in a while one really burns and I will sit hours drafting it aall the way through.

Don't beat yourself up for being creative. It takes almost as many details to make a world for a short story as it does for a novel. Convincing takes time.

It's what works for me, but my writing is sproadic and unplanned (my main job is parenting, LOL, summer is not a good time to get a lot of writing done.) I do think it helps to have more than one thing going on at a time just so you have something ELSE to look forward to if for whatever reason your current project is driving you batty. There's significant benefit to banishing it to a back burner so you can let it stew while you work on something else for a bit.

But Jamie's input is the best of all - if you're having trouble finishing anything...that's a big warning sign. Promote one or two projects to the top of the heap, get them done, and get them out the door.

Here's what I have in draft stage at this point:
3 fantasy novels, 1 historical fiction, 3 young adults. And more short stories than I can keep track of.

How many have I finished? Well, the first draft of 2 fantasies and the historical fiction, and some short stories in various first and later drafts.

I'm finding this is better for my writing than restricting myself rigorously to finishing one before I start the next, because in writing new stuff I find my voice a little more each time. It gets hard to revise stories after a point; they gell and won't change much any more, so in an odd sort of way it seems that one can learn lessons from quick drafts of new works that can be applied to revisions of older pieces before they gell.

I'll start with the idea and chew on it awhile, to see whether it seems worth writing or not.

Next step: I'll write out a few notes to see how it looks on paper (er...computer screen these days). Sometimes it dies right here.

Then I move on to the writing of it.

If I finish it---which I don't, sometimes---it goes into my file for an undefined period, so I can return to it with some fresh perspective after the white heat of writing it dies off. Sometimes it never emerges from this file.

Then, when I do exhume it, I'll write out an entire new draft---the only way I can consider every sentence---and see what it looks like this time around.

After that I do some persnickety revising and revising.

When I'm satisfied I can't do anything more to it, I send it out.

*****

The details vary. Sometimes I move right from one draft to the next. Sometimes I go right into the story. I've done three-or-more separate drafts on a couple of stories without ever being satisfied enough to send it out.

Also I'll go back and forth, or chew on a couple of ideas years after I've made the notes and abandoned the drafts---they haunt me and oppress me.

Also on the rare occasion I pass a story around for comments, I usually try to make that look as good as it can before passing it around...that, or send it around after it's been bounced a couple of times.

*****

My methodology has changed over the years, and probably will again, but this is what I do right now.

*****

Now, if we're talking about books I'm reading all at the same time, that's a completely different story! *wink*

I so admire all of you that write often and have such talent for it. I'm really just a writer-wanna-be. I have a story inside me that I know needs to come out, but I second guess myself so much that it usually gets pushed to the bottom of the list. I appreciate all the knowledge that each of you share here. You encourage me into thinking that someday I'll be brave enough to put actual pen to paper and WRITE!

~LL

Seriously though, I have five novels that are WIPS. One that I spent most of my time on (and having gotten comments back will spend more time and probably absorb a second book into it), two that are follow alongs for the first and are essentially on hold, one that is waiting for comments from my partner in crime, and one that is being neglected. I have two short stories making the publication rounds and a couple of others that I pick at when something clicks or I have time. But, I generally only have a writing "allowance" of 1 hour a day so it limits what I'm playing with. I also have an "allowance" of one hour reading but I've been cheating on that with books on tape so I can spend time with the hubby and kids.

Right now, I'm starting small by writing some electronic curricula for homeschoolers.

So do non-fiction works-in-process count? (But don't worry-- I won't post 13 lines of my homeschool stuff here! LOL!)

Every time I see a question like this (highly subjective work methodology stuff) I wonder if time wouldn't be better spent all way round by getting on with writing already instead of worrying about trivia. I'm not criticizing you for posting this--quite the contrary. I just have the feeling that a lot of people who write, or who are into art in general, feel an almost superstitious need to create their art "the right way".