Irons In Two Fires

I’ve spoken often about staying out of politics and religion unless that’s the subject you’re writing about, and if it is, to expect at least half the people to be mad at you.  In today’s polarized age, it’s best to stay within the realm of what your audience expects(a good story).  Get too preachy, regardless of how obvious you think your point of view should be to anyone with a brain, and you’ll alienate a good chunk of your readership.

That said, politics/religion is a major subject in a book I’ll have coming out later this year.  No, I’m not going to tell you what it’s about – you can guess whether I’m a Bible thumping redneck conservative or an atheistic dope smoking hippie liberal for yourself – or even what names it’s coming out under.  I’ve written it with a co-author, and we’ve chosen a pseudonym to publish under.

The reason I bring this up is that it means I’ve been trying to write two books at once for a while now, and those books are on wildly different topics.  It’s challenging to keep irons in two separate fires because not only does it double the amount of work, but it means I’ve got to be able to switch mindsets when I go back and forth between works.  In one, I get to talk about economic forecasts and societal consequences, while the other drags me back to how a demon would act when confronted with betrayal by another demon.  The switching is enough to make a person schizophrenic.

However much fun this may be, I strongly recommend against anyone else doing this unless they like mental breakdowns.  It has been an insane amount of extra work, and keeping the two books straight is a great deal harder than it sounds.  I’m lucky that my free time in my current job is kind of boring, so I have the time, but I won’t when I return from where I’m at right now.

Stay on one project at a time if you can.  Your sanity will thank you for it.