When should new writing trump working on an almost complete work? When should new writing trump completing a blog? How many novels can one writer be writing simultaneously?

Summer disappeared this week and with cooler weather and rainy days a creative trigger continues to snap two sentences through my mind while I’m trying to stay focused on a real task. “In the space between two bubbles, a glimmering thread formed. ‘Not again,’ she mumbled.”

A list of questions for a subject matter expert is at my right side; the manuscript with an army of sticky notes and additional text clipped to pages is on my left. Purposefully my laptop is in another room as I examine the book’s dramatic arc, pulling apart a plot wobble near the middle.

What to do? Other opening paragraphs of future work wait in a file so I know two sentences don’t equate to anything concrete. Curious about who says “Not again”, I also know I could spend the next two days writing a slamming good short story and lose the time dedicated to taking this book to an important next step. This novel, which I like, has already waited a year in an actual drawer.

My new publisher is expecting me to return with their writer’s profile work completed. My social media presence has good spots and very weak spots. I promised to bring that to more even ground. There are readings this week for Leaving Ashwood, a board meeting for Write On, Door County, and only ten days until this writing retreat is over.

When should new writing trump everything else? Does discipline squelch creativity or will that anonymous voice wait its turn? This time I stay disciplined. And hope I made the right choice.