Get messy with it, writers
let your process be what it is
Do you work on multiple projects at once?
Leadership research says to focus. Efficiency experts suggest we narrow in on what we want to accomplish and dedicate to a primary task with clarity and intention. Meanwhile, I feel like this Adobe Stock image above. Balancing, juggling, making no sense. Happy.
I have three different projects in three phases that are demanding my creative energy. On top of all of that, there’s life. Work. Family. Stress.
But back to the writing. Here’s where I’m at:
CREATION STAGE: I’m in love with a new project I’ve started about the 90s performance arts scene. I also have a hundred new possibilities that bloom when I make any single decision about how to move forward on any scene. I’ve outlined it 4 times, and I now have 4 different possible plot directions and characters who are revealing themselves as more complex and nuanced by the day.
REVISION STAGE: I’m elbow-deep in revisions of the Victoria Woodhull novel. I still get little flashes of insight about that book when I’m doing other things, little nagging mind notes that make me return to my sentences, delete redundancies, and drive my publisher crazy.
MENTAL PREP: I’m waist-deep in the emotional sea that is putting a memoir-in-essays out there in a little over a year (mental/emotional boot camp time). This means returning to the work and ensuring it’s where it needs to be as a collection, as a whole and to begin thinking about the strange landscape of readings and events.
The messiness of being a human creator is the beauty of it all. As writers, we need to tell the full story, not the idealized and distilled version that suggests it’s all about discipline and perfection or finishing one project cleanly before the next while we meet deadlines on our fancy Gantt charts and use Excel to track our word counts, outreach, and bowel movements.
Some of us are messy.
We work on multiple projects at once, despite well-reasoned and science-backed advice telling us that we need to focus. While this research is solid, there is other research that says we need associations to learn and grow. We need to push the boundaries and commit to constant growth. And perhaps we can narrow while at a task, then narrow while at another.
From a macro view, my writing life has been dizzying, but it’s also been delightful.
I am not saying I advise my three-projects-at-a-time process for everyone. I don’t advise anything. I often feel a little scattered, and my ideas can be difficult to manage.
But if you ARE operating in what seems a messy way already, I want to offer you this: there’s nothing wrong, and it can also be REALLY fun. More, it might mean your work is aiming at something larger, the body of work, if you will.
We can integrate when we work on multiple things with a singular intention. We can keep the brain AWAKE. The stimulation of transition and navigating the endless space of possibility between projects means we are never fully stalled—there’s always something to do with whatever energy we are bringing to the day.
I thought I’d share a few ways I’m staying sane (arguably) and embracing the mess. Think of these as things I’m doing, not so much tips. You can take what you need …
I have a different notebook for each project, and I don’t cheat by jotting notes in the wrong notebook. This is incredibly hard for me because I like to write on whatever’s closest and about whatever I’m thinking. But I have kept my notebooks pure, and it has paid off brilliantly.
I am scheduling in quiet time to write, even if that means giving other things up. And I am using this time to connect with other writers and write in dedicated space, at least for an hour, every single day. If you’d like to write with me, let me know.
I have different strategies for different project phases. And they are working, even if it seems like A LOT some days.
I don’t ask for feedback about anything in the CREATION phase because it’s the delicate stuff.
I am telling myself daily to TAKE MY TIME with REVISION. I am not a patient person, but I am learning. I am here to learn. I can revise one draft at a time, and I can await publisher notes with grace.
I do my mental pushups in my PREP phase, reciting what I might face upon publication of the essays: silence (I’ve dealt with that before, I can do it again), armchair analysts (they can become cartoons in my mind), negative reviews (I don’t have to read them - I really don’t), positive reviews that make me cry (I can do this. I can cry.).
Remember, if you’re feeling a little scattered, you’re not alone. Also, you’re pretty badass in my opinion. Maybe we can reframe the messy and start calling it “Mixing up our mental workouts.”
Because what is writing if not working out a delightful puzzle? An all gradient puzzle with 2,000+ pieces.
I like to think of my work as adding up to something larger, each project doing its part to reveal something much more beautiful, nuanced, and complex than I could imagine in any single project or session.
Prompt: To warm up for the 2026 challenge of writing daily, write 250 words. Nonfiction. Experimental. Fiction. It doesn’t matter. Write another 250 words. Then again. Once you have three projects, no matter how rough and tumble, assess. Revise one as you add to another. Let the one that calls you be your project of the week. If you get stalled, there are two more. Make them good. Make them better than good. Take your time. Let them develop as they do.
If you read and enjoyed this post, let me know by telling me about your process below. If you found value in it, share with a friend.