I Have Too Many Ideas!

I advise a reader struggling to prioritise their projects...

Photo by Daniela Paola Alchapar on Unsplash

Hello Team CCC! How are you? Are the Back To School vibes strong, or are you longing for one more month of Summer? I’m torn - I feel as though I’ve not quite had my fill of sun loungers and ice cream - but we’re about to start the Autumn session of the Write Like A Reader course, which is making me feel very new term-ish. Yes, this is a plug! We’re starting on Sunday 8th September, 7.30PM BST on Zoom, so you can join the class from anywhere. There are five weekly 90 minute sessions - Beginnings, Characters, Plot, Pacing, and Endings. Everything is recorded, so if you miss one, it’s available to watch on catch-up.

There’s a focus on fiction, and it might be useful if you’re thinking about memoir, too. It’s suitable for brand new writers, and writers with experience. The plan is that it will show you how much you already know about storytelling, and make you feel confident and excited about writing. The course costs £350 - £295 for paying Substack subscribers. If you’d like the full syllabus, or you’d like to ask me anything, email creativeconfidenceclinic@gmail.com

There’s still time to register your interest in next year’s READ YOURSELF HAPPY retreat, which I’m hosting with Aweventurer. If you’d like to learn more, go to aweventurer.com/daisy and choose your dream destination - and you’ll be the first to know all of the dates and details as soon as we have them. If you’d like to know more about what the retreat will include, I’ve written about it here.

Now for this week’s Dear Daisy. I advise a reader who isn’t sure which project to focus on. If you have a DD question, I’d love to hear from you - email creativeconfidenceclinic@gmail.com

Dear Daisy,

This might sound like one of the worst creative problems ever, but how do you deal with having too many ideas?

I have started and stopped many a creative writing project because I often find myself unable to focus on one thing at a time over an extended period. For example, about a year ago I had an idea that I felt that I wanted to turn into a novel. I spent some time completing research, read a lot of other books within a similar genre, completed a rough outline for the story, character bios, and even took a step back for a little while to allow the idea to simmer (did the idea really have legs?). And then, I thought, yes, it did. 

I was really excited about starting work on it, and all was fine for a few months. But then, I began to notice my attention drifting and other 'potential' novel ideas surfaced. All of which were completely different from what I was working on! Yet, I noticed that these seemingly random ideas also left me feeling inspired and so invariably, I would pause work on the original project and get lost down a rabbit hole of new research. Therefore, when I returned to the original project, it didn't seem to have quite the same glow as before. 

I am not a published author and accept that I may never be. I write fiction because I enjoy it, and each week I carve out regular time to write. Plus, I do keep a writing notebook, and try to use this when ideas strike me. But I am now starting to feel (after starting and stopping probably about 20+ projects over the years) that there is something wrong with me! I have read that some writers/novelists can work on vastly different projects at the same time, switching between these with ease. I also appreciate that not all of my ideas are 'good ideas' and very few are truly worth putting the time and effort into turning into a book. 

This seems like such a silly problem. But I would love to get some advice that may help me focus on one thing at a time.

Ps - I am still steadily working on the original idea that I mention here. 

Overwhelmed By Ideas