Conundrum for writers!

       How does a writer pick a manuscript to work on if they have several in various stages. Some don't start on a new project until the first is completed. Others write down the new idea and a bit about it and set it aside for later. Probably the wisest course to take. Still others juggle writing in each WIP(work in progress for non-writer clarification) each day,each week,etc!    I tend to fall into the category of what can only be called, "Writer's Insanity"!
       At present I have a childrens book of my original bedtime stories, a romance suspense, a fantasy and a SciFi in various stages of completion. Do I know better? Yes. Am I going to stop and concentrate on only one WIP at a time? Maybe,okay to be perfectly honest,no.
       I admit it,I tend to work on the book that best fits my mood.The book I am most excited about that Day. I didn't say that was the best way to write and finish a manuscript,I merely stated that is what I do,at least for now.
      I didn't start out that way.I started out with one idea and wrote my entire 128,000 word romance suspense in a few months.Then I started my second,which is sort of a sequel to the first or second in a series of books about the same characters, in about a year. This time frame does not include revisions and editing which I still have not completed.
    My third novel,I wrote during NaNoWriMo(Look it up) and I am still revising and editing it two years later. At present I am concentrating on finishing a story I stated as a series of posts on this blog.I fell in love with the characters and the story and ended the story on the blog and I am concentrating entirely on finishing this WIP as a novel. It will be the first in a series.So, Yes Virginia,writers can change their spots. I am proof of that,at least for now.
    To all the writers out there,post a comment on your writing habits.Do you finish one book before starting the next,work on several at a time,what?
 Well,time to go.I hear my characters clamoring for me to finish their story.Some of them will just have to wait their turn. Happy writing to each and every one of you.

JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL!

       Have you or a loved one ever got caught in the government loop called, Health and Human Services? The name evokes a vision of smiling faces waiting for the phone to ring so they can assist the distraught caller to obtain whatever help they need.Think so? Well you would be WRONG!first you have to awade through and pick the right choice on the menu.if you get lucky you reach the right place or get to speak to someone who directs you to the right menu choice.
    Now I am not saying the person who finally answers the phone after a subtantial wait isn't smiling. However;I suspect the smile would more closely resemble the the maniacal grin of a creature from the astounding, maniacal mind of Stephen King in a really bad mood.
      Recently I suffered through a really hard time.I won't go into the details,suffice it to say I found myself in need of help.Friends came through for me,but I needed more help than I expected them to give and I decide to bite the bullet and go where I had never gone before.  THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. Not to be confused with the Social Services office,the Wellfare office,Public Assistance, or a host of other misnomers.
     After a week of calling phone numbers that no longer worked, visiting offices that were no longer there an leaving my call back number,I talked to Rosalee.She directed me to the on-line site to fill out for emergency assistance or assistance that was needed but not on an emergency level.
She was very helpful even if she didn't get my reference to the late Chris Farley's skit about," Sleeping In A Van,Down By the River".Sorry,it was a Saturday Night Live skit,when SNL was still relatively funny.
   Anyhow, I thanked her and headed for the online application.
OMG! The questions were not designed for anyone who is essentially homeless and living with gracious friends.I answered questions,that didn't pertain to my situation at all,some that almost did, and some that were obviously designed to ferret out anyone trying to qualify under false pretensions.
     Someone,somewhere, now knows, all of my personal info,including how much money is in my account,if I have a paid up burial plot,my bank info, and various other bits and pieces of info that has no bearing on my situation at all.I am retired,I don't have a "Real Job"( I am an unpublished writer so that doesn't count) and  I live on my Social security checks.I even had to tell them how much money I had given away in the past few years to help family members. I hit send and I was done.
    How do people survive living within the system.Maybe they just give up and wander off never to be heard from again. The ones who reach the Holy Grail of Benefits,what do they know that the rest of us don't?
I'm not done yet,I now await THE CAll.Then I have to drive to the office,wherever that is, and have an interview. SOMEONE,will let me know the time, place and information to bring with me.What more could they want to know? My blood type,any birthmarks,etc.? I suppose I will find out when and if the Call comes.
if I'm never heard from again,someone tell the authorities where I was going and why.
  Stay tuned for the next installment of the Quest for Benefits or Survival of the System!If I actually survive to write another day.