A Story Idea is Calling to me...

Written October 10th

In the next few days, I'll finish editing my short stories for my autobiographical novel.  I've been thinking about what I might want to work on next.  Do I want to go back to work on "The Shepherdess Princess," or work on something else?  Do I want to continue the start I have with "Magic In Their Blood"?  Do I want to go back to focusing on my poetry?  After giving it some thought over the last few days, I find myself being drawn to a story idea I had for a romance novel that stems from a dream I had ages ago.  I wrote the story idea down as soon as I woke up from the dream, so I wouldn't lose it.  The last time I gave it any thought at all was when I was inputting the title and synopsis into my story idea file on my computer over a year ago.

I feel a kind of fear even thinking about starting this new endeavor because some childhood memories were mixed into the dream as well.  Memories that I have tried to repress.  Even now, just thinking about the details of the dream again seems surreal.  Do I face my fears and give in to the Siren call, or do I ignore it and work on something else for a distraction?  Would I upset my Muse if I don't do as I'm being led to do?  I'll have to think about it a little bit longer before I make my decision.

Updated October 13th

It feels like my Muse, or the Fates are wanting to play with me.  Now I feel like I want to go back to working on "The Shepherdess Princess."  After talking to a writer friend of Facebook yesterday, I came to the conclusion that it's just fair that "The Shepherdess Princess" be the next book I publish.  I have invested three years of my life already getting to this point.  I can finish it by the end of the year if I concentrate on doing so, and I have several fans already eagerly anticipating its release.  :)  I can't let them down!  My brother, Ray, told me this week that he thinks it should be made into a movie!  He's helped me a lot with research along the way and other writing advice pertaining to some scenes, so of course I had to share some of the story with him.

What got me contemplating my next writing project was the thought that NaNoWriMo's coming up again next month.  I've been thinking about participating again this year, and wasn't feeling like working on the same novel for it that I have over the last three years.  If I choose to start a new project from scratch, I would only have two more weeks to flesh out the idea and start doing whatever research may need to be done for it.  I haven't fully committed to the idea yet of participating in National Novel Writing Month this year either.  50,000 words in 30 days!  I haven't been able to accomplish that yet.

Updated October 14th

I'm down to my last short story to edit before I'm all caught up with that project.  I was also thinking of trying to face my fears once "The Shepherdess Princess" is done, and start work on the story idea I brought up earlier in this post.  I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it, though.  I may feel differently about it when the time actually comes to start working on it.