Writing is a business
Right now I have several projects that I could be working on.
A cozy mystery that I sold on proposal, but the manuscript isn't due for over a year.
Another cozy mystery that I want to query agents with.
A proposal for the fourth book in my Parker Investigation series.
An Urban Fantasy that I just recently started and is a lot of fun to write.
The writer in me would be perfectly happy just getting up each day and working on which ever project calls to me. But the published author in me wants to do what's best for my career. Each project has its pros and cons.
Writing the cozy that's already contracted would get one more thing off my To Do List, but it's not urgent. I have the synopsis done and plenty of time to write it. The Urban Fantasy would be fun. I love stretching my writing skills and letting my imagination run wild. But, I'm not published in UF so it would be taking my career on a different track and I'm probably not quite ready for that. The proposal is almost finished anyway and I'm not going to submit it for a while. The new cozy series I really like but it involves another agent search.
What did I do? I called the husband. He played devil's advocate, argued every point I made and got me to think it all through so I could make the decision that I knew was right. Now, I can get down to the business of writing it.
I don't think it's ever too soon to treat your writing as a business. Even if you're writing your very first book. If you want to have a career as a writer, you have to treat it as a business.