Ghost Projects

Recently, my blogger friend Terri Bruce posted on Facebook on how 2017 has been a year for her to complete what she called “ghost projects,” crafts and other things she started a long time ago but was unable to finish until now. It's been a very freeing experience for her to get them done. It got me thinking about the various ghost projects I have in my life.

Many writers have what they refer to as “trunk” stories, stories that never quite came together or were sent out and never found a home. There aren’t any projects from my beginning days as a writer that I want to pull out, but I would like to return to the world of Lyon’s Legacy and Twinned Universes. I’ve started a story currently titled “The Unnumbered World,” about a minor character (Julia) from Twinned Universes and her experiences after the book ends. I’m having trouble defining the conflicts involved, plus she’s half Dine (Navajo), so I’ll have to revisit my research on her culture before I finish her story. I’ve also started a sequel to Twinned Universes, but it’s not a time travel story and would take the series in a completely different direction.

In addition to the Catalyst Chronicles stories, I have a couple of stand-alone short stories that need to be finished. One of them actually did get completed, but after receiving a developmental edit on it, I abandoned it. Maybe it’s time to dig it out and see if I want to revise it or stick with my original plan for that story.

There are several craft projects I need to finish. The highest priority projects are sewing my Jedi robes and finishing a train I started to crochet for Alex when he was a toddler. I also want to make him a Star Wars blanket, and I know that’s going to be a big time commitment. One reason I like crocheting Star Wars amigurumi characters is because they only take a few days to complete. (I also make these for other people, so sometimes there's a deadline to get them done before I see the recipient.) Of course, when you want to do several of them, the time goes up.

I'll mention that I have various projects that need to be done around the house, but I don't want to list them all.

In order to manage my projects, I write out lists of them and assign them priorities. I think to make progress on some of the bigger projects (like the Jedi costume), I need to break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Of course, finding time for these projects is also a challenge. I can get an hour or so of crocheting done while my son is doing his homework, but for sewing, I want to set aside a larger chunk of time, and that's harder to do.

How many ghost projects do you have floating around? Do you plan to work on them at some point, or have you given up on them? Feel free to share in the comments.