Imagine. . . You are working feverishly on a novel, and in your snail mail comes an invitation to submit to an anthology for charity. You put your novel aside and write a short story. After that’s submitted, you dash off a piece on a local book signing for your writer’s organization, then spot a new online publisher who is seeking novellas to launch an inspirational imprint. You start drafting a 30,000 word story, meanwhile still thinking about your novel there on the back burner.

You send off some of the poetry you wrote a few years ago to a new Christian web site. . . then get back to your novel. . . until you get an e-mail message calling for partial manuscripts in a sub-genre you don’t usually write, and you decide to whip up a synopsis and three chapters.

Do you wonder then how to get re-involved in your story, how to get reacquainted with your characters and their lives? Is it difficult to revive the passion you had for your plot? How many times do you have to start over because you lost focus?

If this sounds like you, you may be a writer with too many irons in the publishing fire. You need to narrow it down; narrow the scope of your writing activities. To bring things into perspective, consider the following: