magpie brain and the next new shiny

I was hunting through files to make work-in-progress postcards I like to share on Instagram and realized I have a lot going on. There are numerous projects in various stages of completion that litter the folder in my Dropbox labeled "WRITING." Some are finished and just awaiting a more editorial eye, like the CLOVEN manuscript. Or the NOLA vampire girls,  the sea witch poems, and the more sci-fi influenced set of poems and collages that is , all of which are just waiting for me to make zines out of them. . Others I think may be finished for now but I might want to return to them, like winged, which I've already been submitting individually and  plumbing for vide poems since I was really excited to share them. There are many things semi-complete, some newer like THE MIDNIGHT GARDEN and a little series of Victorian sideshow poems I hope to share soon as a zine. Others that have been in progress for a decade like the blue swallow motel series I've been longing to get wrapped. I also have projects I have planned or wanted to do that haven't taken shape. The mid-century McCarthyism inspired project. The bone palace poems. The Frankenstein-inspired book. A series about Macbeth's witches maybe?  All of which are in the air and in my head, but not committed to paper or screen. And these are just the poem-ish things...

As I wrap the victorian sideshow series in the next couple of weeks, I will perhaps be turning to something new, even though there are other things that seem like they'd be contenders to tackle next. But I also find there are times I need to put my head down and work and others where my creative self needs a little more coddling and misdirection to get something good. A fake out or a side quest. On one hand, having many projects means perhaps they take shape slower, which is mostly fine since I am a pretty dogged and persistent writer these days. But on the other hand, working on one project at a time might make me feel trapped, especially if things are not going as wanted or expected. I can always bail if I'm stuck and work on something else. The problem is sometimes I wind up stuck for years. 

Last summer, I listened to the audio book of Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC, in which she talked about abandoning projects and how there is a danger in sitting on and sitting with creative ideas too long. Sometimes, the muse goes looking for other vessels. Your ingenious idea gets snatched from the swirling air by someone else before you bring it fully into the world. This happens and I am not sure its a bad thing. Perhaps only because I think creation is totally about your spin and your style, which has nothing to do with an idea or concept that might find itself frustrated with your slowness.

Sometimes it feels overwhelming having too much happening though. Those books get weighty in my writing folder. I occasionally forget they exist. Or like to pretend they don't exist as I move onto something else. As I contemplate half finished manuscripts and random notes and research for things I haven't even started, I will probably just close the windows and get on with whatever it is I feel the need to work on right now as we wander into September and the fall months.. 

What is it? Your guess is as good as mine...

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