Irons in the Fire

Is it a bad thing to have several irons in the fire? That is, is it a bad thing to have several writing projects going on at one time?

I was talking to another writer, going over some of the projects we were working on. There was a similar piece both he and I were working (separately) on for an upcoming anthology submission, and I mentioned I had temporarily discontinued writing on the MAIN project and veered off on another idea that popped into my head. On this "new" piece it slightly took a life of its own (as mentioned in the last post about writing projects COMING ALIVE) and I found myself throughout this last week focused on it versus focused on the MAIN writing project.

I informed my friend that the deadline for the MAIN piece I was working on wasn't until end o' June, so taking a detour for a bit wasn't going to kill things. (Plus I had already written 4000 words of the MAIN project. It has a 10k max word request of the publisher so...)

I have a few different writing projects going on. It is not a bad thing I would say. I have the MAIN project for a traditional publisher's anthology and then this side project which will most likely be a short story and something I will self-pub. I think I have written more in the last four months than I have in quite a long time, and it's a good feeling and also inspires me to write more. (It is like exercising. Once you get to doing it regularly, it is easier to do and easier to find yourself doing it.)

So is having too many writing projects going on at once a bad thing? I would say thee nay! When you need a break from the MAIN you can always slip on over to the SIDE projects, refuel and refresh before diving back into the MAIN again.

Now I suppose if you don't complete anything: MAIN, SIDES...then perhaps that could be a bit of a problem.