What to do when you’ve bitten off more than you can chew

Sometimes I look at Tir Rhaycorda, the fantasy world I created, and I think it’s too big for me. I can’t possibly tie up all these sub-plots, fill in all the plot holes and create a satisfying ending. How can I keep their different seasons and way of measuring time straight in my own head when I can’t remember what day it is in the real world? I know I’m not the only writer that feels like this. Hell, even non-writers feel overwhelmed from time to time!

If you feel like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, in fantasy or life, this blog is for you. Any project – even leaving the house some days – looks overwhelming in its entirety. The trick is to learn how to break it all down so that you can see that none of the things involved in achieving your goal are impossible. Furthermore, you can get a better idea of how long each step is going to take, and as you cross them off your list you get a sense of progress. No, you might not have finished the whole book, but if you know how your world works, you’ve written the first draft and/or you’ve written out a solid plan so you know where to go from here, then you’re well on your way.

It’s all too easy to look at the whole project, see it uncompleted, and believe it never will be. But if you break your project (or your visa application) down into tasks your goals become measurable. On those days where you believe you’ll never achieve your vision, you can chose one of the easier tasks and knock it out (I personally save a few simple ones for times like these.)

In addition to that, realise you can’t remember it all.

By the time you get to book five you’re not going to remember what The Banrigh’s cousin’s daughter-in-law’s hand-maid was named in book two. Somewhere along the line, you’re going to need to write things down, even if that means taking the time to comb back through everything you’ve done so far to wring the details out. You might need to print out a calendar to track all those time-jumps you made, so that someone doesn’t write on your Amazon review that Medusa had two birthdays  five months apart, making you feel like an idiot.

Last week I spoke about planning, and this ties into that. If you give your mind a break by storing some ideas on paper instead of in your brain, you’re less likely to feel so overwhelmed, even if you still have a lot left to do.

Don’t give up. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to write your book or finish your pet project – that  time will pass anyway – all that matters is you keep working on it, and maybe get some sleep; problems are never the monsters we imagine them as at the end of a long day.