My single greatest challenge as a writer is sticking to a single idea. I’ve written many times before about this problem, so I won’t rehash it. Basically, I can talk myself out of any idea.

This has led me to the concern that perhaps I don’t really want to write anything. Maybe I can’t stick to an idea because I’m simply not a storyteller. And maybe that’s true.

But before I give up altogether, I’m determined to give it everything I have.

And so, in that vein, I have decided to “set aside” the month of June to pursue a single idea (which I haven’t quite picked yet…). No matter what other ideas beckon, or how much better they look, or how much more I like them—one idea. On July 1^st, I can switch to something else, if I want. But for this month, I will work on a single idea and see where it gets me.

I’m not going to attempt to finish a draft like NaNoWriMo, though I would like to see a draft beginning to form in this time. I’m just going to work on nothing else.

The reality is that my mind has developed this powerful myth that if I just find the perfect idea, it will write itself. And so I switch from idea to idea, ever in search of a slightly more perfect idea, while getting nothing done ever. If I were to continue on this path, in one month, I will still be where I am now—nowhere.

So, really, I’m not giving anything up by setting aside this month to pursue one potentially terrible idea. That doesn’t mean it won’t be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, though, since I have the attention span of an infant and the will power of a limp noodle.

First, I have to choose the idea, for which I have vague parameters but no specifics. This has to be done as quickly as possible, or else I will spend the entire month just choosing the idea.

And then I have to stick with it, no matter what.

This is going to be a long month.