OK, that title may be a little confusing but it's the only way I could "tweet" what I was trying to say in a limited amount of words. But I was just wondering if anyone work on more than one story at once; namely that "big one" and a bunch of smaller ones whenever the mood or idea strikes them. Knowing I'm not a good writer I try to start a bunch of small stories but it always tends to overlap the big one in some way. Either I use plots or ideas from the big one or the ideas in the small one makes me want to include them in the big one. In the end, it seems I get little done in the way of actually writing besides a poem here and there. Anyone else have this problem?
I work on many stories at once, but my "main" story, my novel, is on the back burner right now. I'm working on short stories that don't take place in the same universe. I'm doing this in the hopes that I might sell a short story to a magazine, and doing so might help my credibility with an agent when I try to sell my novel.
I work on multiple stories, but unfortunately not any of them are related. My only suggestions is that while they may not be part of the main story, they're a good way to understand your characters, but eventually you're going to have to just put your foot down and work on your main story.