#snis

Hey everyone, Abby here! Today I’m talking about “Shiny New Idea Syndrome,” a popular case among writers, and giving some tips on how to work with it or to defeat it.

What is “Shiny New Idea Syndrome”?

Put yourself in this situation. You’re a writer, you’re doing well, you’re minding your own business with your one story idea. It’s going great! Then one day, just as you finish working on your one project, a new idea presents itself to you and oh my GOSH, this is the best idea ever. It must be written immediately.

When you fall into this trap (multiple times), you probably have “Shiny New Idea Syndrome.” (We’re going to call it SNIS for the rest of this post.) SNIS is pretty much just what it sounds like. You constantly focus your attention on new and exciting ideas and end up leaving your old ones in the dust. For writers who want to make their stories into a career, it’s a dangerous affliction.

Working with SNIS

Maybe you’re like me and really do want to work on each new idea you get. Here are some of the methods I use that I think work the best for incorporating SNIS into your writing schedule:

Use a monthly calendar. You can print off a PDF of a monthly calendar and use it to organize your writing schedule. You don’t have to use a new calendar every month or label the days or anything like that; just use it to schedule which days you work on what project. The Calendar app for iOS also works well for this, but I would definitely recommend printing something off to have a material copy.

“Evolve” your ideas. This one is a bit harder to do but definitely helps you combat SNIS without jeopardizing your productivity. Take this brand new idea you have and dissect it. See what parts of it can be incorporated into your story, if any. Then your brand new idea has been put to work, and bam! You’re good. (Be careful with this one — using it too many times for one project could result in you trying to fit too much into one story.)

Develop it a little bit (a little bit) and set it aside. It’s not “just” an idea if you write it down and develop it slightly before setting it aside. This is my go-to method usually — Shiny New Ideas become projects more or less on the back-burner, and it makes it easier to focus on my main projects without a different idea trying to get my attention.

Combating SNIS

Or maybe these Shiny New Ideas are the absolute bane of your existence and you just want them gone so you can work on your current project without issue. Here’s some advice for that, too!

Make a commitment to your current WIP. I would most recommend a daily goal — maybe it doesn’t come in the form of a word or page count. But if you don’t want to lose your current WIP to SNIS, then daily goals may become your friend. Commit yourself to contributing to your current WIP until you get it to where you want it to be (usually published). Sometimes you need these goals all the way through, maybe you don’t. Whatever works!

Eliminate negativity about your writing. SNIS often occurs when your writing is starting to sag, but it is also prominent in writers who constantly belittle their own work. Usually people will work to avoid negativity, so trying to combat internalized negativity about this one WIP is what can often lead to the birth of your next idea. There are a few problems about this: a) it will happen continually with each project, because nobody is a perfect writer, and b) you’re using energy to belittle your WIP which is probably in its early stages, and that energy should go to editing instead so that you can improve.

Shiny New Idea Syndrome, while often regarded among writers as a sort of writing evil, isn’t always bad. In fact, it can sometimes help your writing if you keep it under control. I hope these tips helped you with your own SNIS (unless you don’t have it, in which case I envy you)!

Dos 141 municípios de Mato Grosso, 46 ainda não realizaram a entrega das informações para Sema A Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente (Sema-MT) alerta que o prazo de envio de dados municipais de 2022, por meio do Sistema Nacional de Informações sobre Saneamento (SNIS), vai até o dia 30 de maio, e que o fornecimento é condição para acesso aos recursos públicos federais para saneamento…