I know I'm not the only one frustrated by this: You are in the middle of six hundred projects, and suddenly an idea for a new work just pops into your head.
It just happened again to me this morning. But I'm busy. In fact, I'm busy because four other projects popped up just like it, as insistent as this one, and wouldn't shut up until I started them.
But I haven't finished any of them!
Begone! I say.
And then I run after it, screaming, "No, don't begone! Come back! I didn't mean it. I promise to be a good writer. I promise to keep you and coddle you and even start you. But don't leave me!"
Because, of course, the opposite problem is worse: having no projects going on, but also no ideas for any projects.
So I'm asking my readers: What do you do when you have a project that won't leave you alone while you are busy with a prior project?
I was thinking of building a database. In fact, I have one I'm still building (another project) that I'm going to offer for free on this blog, for Outlining a fiction project, tracking submissions, etc. In fact, I have an idea module in this database, but it is more for generating work out of cast-off idea fragments, like, "I want to write a story about a blue person!"
This idea isn't like that. This idea has characters, a plot, and a whole lot of tantalizing mystery. This one has ex-lovers and the end of the world. I have a old failed Nanowrimo that was about the end of the world, so I might throw this into that, and see if sparks fly.
So, that brings me back: What do you do when you have a story that won't get off your leg?
