I’vebecome superb at starting stories. Mountain climbers, Sherpa guides in tow, aregathering at the base of my Work in Progress (WIP) pile in the hope of beingthe first to plant a flag on the summit. For reasons I haven’t yet fullyidentified, my imagination is in overdrive, spewing out plots and charactersfaster than I can keep up with them. I have a computer file titled “RandomMusings” that has grown to over fifty pages of book titles, characters completewith accompanying traits and idiosyncrasies,  plots and twists in a variety of genres, andsome pretty interesting endings. What I don’t have are finished books.

 

Obviously,my problem isn’t the notorious ‘writer’s block.’ I’m writing every day. Itwould just be nice to get beyond the first three or four chapters of somethingwithout a new idea sprouting in my mental garden. Yesterday, I even wrote thefirst chapter of a nonfiction book.

 

Somemight say I have the ‘shiny distraction’ syndrome, but I don’t think it’s thateither. When a new story idea hits, I have to write it down before it vanisheslike a sock in the dryer. Unfortunately, once I do that, I rarely return to thestory I was working on.

 

Rightnow, I have no clue how to break this pattern of unfinished books begun withthe best of intentions. I suspect a locked room with intravenous feedings ofcaffeine may be looming on the horizon.

 

Thisisn’t like me. I’ve always been focused and driven. Currently, my mind is the ballin a racquetball game. 

 

Ifanyone has any solutions, realistic or not, I would love to hear them.