Finding Balance in Discussing a WIP

As a writer something that always makes my brain hurt is trying to figure out just how much to talk about when discussing a WIP (Work in Progress). It may seem like no big deal to discuss it but talking about it could easily take the steam out of the writing. Or make you look like a flake when you have to put it on the backburner for a little while.

It’s not hard to imagine
that regular non-writer folks have little understanding of the backburner or other things that are part and parcel of being a writer. At times even my own fiancé goes - wait what you’re a writer?! Which makes me nuts because he’s actually read some of my Decadent Angels series. He’s even been told that one of my poems had been published. His memory slips in and out at times. Plus, I do the bulk of my writing while he’s at work. Then there are the times I’m hard at work on a story but it just looks like I’m doing dishes. Guess he doesn’t much notice the times I run for a pen & paper. Other times he’s less stubborn about acknowledging that all it takes to be a writer is to write, and that I have the means to put my stuff in front of readers as soon as it’s finished.

I find myself wanting to talk about my WIPs with him, on my Facebook page and in my blog. It’s hard knowing what the balance is for that, especially on posting stuff about them. Getting people interested in a project when it’ll be a long time before it’s ready for release could definitely be dodgy territory.

Of course there’s also the question of how do you describe certain things about it without getting into spoiler territory yet still sounding coherent.

I bring this up because I’m to a point where I really want to start talking about my WIPs in my blog.

In browsing other writer’s blogs I see that it’s not unusual for a writer to go ahead and do just that. They find ways to work it out. In my case, balance is always very important but too easy to topple over. Just kinda the way my life works. Oi, don’t even get me started about the bit where I just plain think too much. The tendency to get overly analytical is rampant, though oddly wasn’t as useful as it should have been back in school.

For the past few years, I just went with a hardly ever talk about my WIPs because before that I talked about them all the time and it wound up feeling very off. Now, I’ve reached a point where not talking about them hardly ever feels just as off. So talking about them too much or too little relegates my projects too much to the back burner.

Lately, I’ve been noticing all these writing sites where they promote being more social with your writing as a great tool. Some writers are even going as far as posting drafts for people to give feedback on. While I could never get into going that far, I do see the benefit of chatting with others in the same boat and of sharing a bit about a WIP. It can help you work through writing technicalities & story issues, and it can help you stay excited about a project through the different stages of the writing. It also can help you stay motivated to do your regular writing sessions.

So I’ll probably be bumbling around for awhile as I find my balance in talking about my WIPs. Of course the ones I’ll talk about are the ones that have some release plan, because realistically I have well over 100 WIPs in varied stages of development. I started having WIPs as far back as 1993 so that number is not quite as mind melting as it sounds.

I expect much of this also applies to any other creative endeavor.

Does talking about your WIPs too much take the steam out of your writing? Does not talking about them put them too much on the back burner? Have you found a balance in talking about it? If so what is it?