Saturday, November 01, 2008

Procrastinating

It's Nov 1. Time to start on NaNoWriMo. Which, of course, means, it's time to procrastinate. Why? Because starting on a project like this is scary. Not scary like monsters and tests you didn't study for. But scary because I have to pick ONE projects and carry it through for a whole month!

My situation right now is: I can either choose a project that I've been thinking about for a while, or start a whole new project that I know nothing about.

Advantages of project 1: The Known World.
1. I already have ideas. So in theory it should be easy to develop those into 50k words.
2. It's something I've told someone else about already, and they said "cool." So that provides some additional motivation.

Disadvantages of project 1:
1. I've had long enough to think about it for it to turn into one of those "pet projects" that has to turn out just so or I won't be happy.
2. It's a "collection" idea. A collection of short stories. So in theory it's a bunch of ideas that I would have to work on instead of just one.

Advantages of project 2:
1. Clean slate, with plenty of opportunity for inspiration.
2. No connections to other projects. No pre-set expectation levels.

Disadvantages of project 2:
1. I just did a couple of 30-minute test-writes that yielded some great material. But they were all done before Nov 1, so I can't use those words.* I feel like I used up my good ideas.
2. I feel an attachment to project 1, and want it to happen.

So here's what I'm thinking:
Project 1 has too much emotional attachment. Even though Project 2 has the scariness of a new project, I think Project 1 has too much risk. So I'll try project 2.

Now I just need an idea.