It has almost become routine.

Get a great idea—this is the one! Jot it down. Make notes. Wait until you’re at your computer, and then type away, cranking out as many details as you can remember from the initial burst of inspiration. This is the one that will make my writing known.

And then, about two weeks and ten thousand words later…a new great idea! Scratch that old one, this new one is where I need to focus my writing energy.

It’s cyclical. Until one day you manage to snap the cycle and actually finish a manuscript—which has happened to me three times. How many not-quite-finished or was-once-a-great-idea-until-it-wasn’t-anymore drafts do I have saved on my computer? Dozens. A good fifteen or twenty for every book I completed.

That’s just the way it goes. Does the process discourage me? At first, sure, it did. When you have yet to complete anything…