Thinking Big

I have a project (a book) I've flirted with for half my life. I wrote a draft in high school and had no idea what to do with it, so I put it aside, went to college, and thought about it sometimes. I thought about variations that would make it stronger or more complete. I thought about and wrote snippets and summaries for other ideas that I didn't think of as related but now see are extensions of the same project. A year or two ago I started thinking how I'd put this all together into a finished novel.

I'd planned to start on it this fall but another novel was calling for my attention and I've been working on that instead. It's exciting and pretty fun and very different from the serious magical realist novel I've been thinking about all this time. I made myself a pretty tight schedule to get this one done so I can move on to the novel that's been rattling around in my brain for so long.

But last week I started thinking about other things I wanted to write right now, including short essays and revamping some stories. I want to do a lot of things to reach potential readers who might not pick up a whole novel from an unknown author but will read a short story or essay and then be curious about my book. I also want to get this novel right, which means I need to keep working steadily but not rush.

I'd thought for awhile about putting my weird queer magic realist novel on Wattpad when the time comes. I'm still considering it. But it is so different from my other work and honestly less accessible I realized I should stop thinking about what small press would tolerate it or how it might fare on Wattpad. I decided to think bigger. Maybe I should play with it longer, give it more time and attention than I thought, and eventually send it to an agent. Maybe it's literary fiction waiting to happen and I could try that.