Writing Decisions

One of my writing friends recently asked an interesting question: "Should I stay focused on my novel or work on some short stories to get my name out there when there's really not enough time in the day for even one of these?"

This is an interesting question, and one I struggle with all the time. I am under the opinion that you should do both--work on your large, long-term writing projects AND your short-term money makers or publishing credit projects. What do you think?

I do find that I spend MUCH MORE time working on my short-term writing assignments because 1. I can get them finished, and that gives me a feeling of accomplishment. 2. They give me some income NOW as opposed to royalties three years down the road. 3. I enjoy being published and helping people through my writing.

These reasons above are valid and important and help me on my career path, but my ultimate goal is to have several children's books published, go to schools and talk about writing, and maybe even lead some writing workshops/camps for kids and adults. So, I have to work on my long-term projects, too, or these goals will never be accomplished.

What about you ladies? How do you feel about this issue? How do you organize your time between long-term and short-term projects? Or some people say between creative writing and business writing? I suggested to my friend to write short stories during the week and a novel on the weekends, but I don't think this would work for me.

The ultimate solution would be to have 30 hours in the day or to only need one or two hours of sleep a night to function. But those are two things I'm not in charge of. . .:)

Happy Writing!
Margo Dill
https://www.margodill.com/
Read These Books and Use Them (blog)

photo by eleaf https://www.flickr.com/