Mr. Momentum and Knowing When to Switch Gears

The last three weeks, I've been working like gang-busters! (I wish I knew what a 'gang-buster' really was - though I could take an educated guess) Everyday I've been worrying over my poetry workshop, CYA craft class (no - CYA does not mean Cover Your Ass; it means Children's/Young Adult) and the CYA Directed Reading course. Three courses in a Master's program are nearly enough to drive one mad. The level of competency that is required when approaching this kind of work is near brutal. It's at this level one could almost compete with the big boys, and sometimes do.

In my case, I've been pounding out the observations of life (required journalizing for the poetry workshop), occassionally attempting to actually write (and submit) a poem or two, reading poetry (also in preparation for the course) and writing a children's early reader book (this writing is perhaps the most exact and toughest of all) about my favorite heros - Samurai Snail and Sumo Slug - while still contributing mightily (at least that's the hope) to the Directed Reading arguments and observations.

So here's the catch and the reference to the title. I have to do more and dig deeper on the poetry angle - that can't change - I'm  still entrenched. The Directed Reading won't change - I have research, observations, and notes to give and take. Samurai Snail and Sumo Slug, however, are a different story. I have to leave them. I've spent the last six weeks creating, writing, rewriting, editing, and working their story and character. But the dictates of the class demand that I do something else (like write five publishables poems over the next three weeks) and then something else a 120 pp manuscript and then 220 ms. - give or take about 50pp.

What does this mean? It means that I HAVE to switch gears. No choice. Normally, I might want to polish slug and snail and - at the very least - send it off to an agent. Oh, what a pleasure it would be to have Ms. Johnson crying over my verse!

So. there's my dilema and my task: let go of something that is gaining ground to begin a new task.

How to do this? I don't know for sure, but here are some ideas:

1) Put the thing to rest. Mentally say good-bye; Physically put all notes and manuscripts into a folder and shut the file cabinet.

2) Open a file for the next project. On the computer. Physical file for what is to come.

3) In a class course, I've been known to create empty folder in anticipation for future projects. I don't know why, exactly, this helps. But it does. I have yet to do this for all my future work, but I will most likely finish this by the week-end or next week at the latest. One reason for this is that the early push in a class can be overwhelming until you get the rhythm of the work and the nomenclature of the subject a little more pat and organized. It also doesn't help when one is inclined to play more than they should if they want to make the Dean's list.