Between teaching, parenting, and everyday life, your writing time is limited, which makes choosing the right novel idea feel surprisingly high stakes. If you’re stuck between too many possibilities, this post will help you sort through the noise, clarify what matters most, and pick one story to begin.

Your novel ideas aren’t scattered because you’re disorganized — they’re scattered because you’re writing in the margins of a very full life. Sticky notes, Google Docs, random notebooks… it all counts. Here’s the simplest way to gather everything into one place so you can finally move forward with your novel.

If you’ve been telling yourself you’ll write your novel “when life slows down,” this might feel familiar. I used to think time was the problem too, until I realized guilt and a lack of structure were what actually kept me stuck. The good news? Both of those things can change.