Getting my ducks in a Row

Had a good write-night Monday. I spent the time working on an old story - the one that goes way back to childhood and dreams. My dilemma with it is that I have so many different beginnings, that I'm at a lost with which one to use. I'm told just pick one, forge forward, worry about order in the end and that is the decision I need to make - which one to pick?

The story takes place over a number of years. The main character's childhood is very relevant, so one angle would be to start with that and then do "five years later" or whatever. But the story isn't a children's story, so then I want to start in the middle of an exciting scene in the present and use flashbacks to explain the past. Of course the use of flashbacks is tricky at best and we're cautioned away from them.

I realize that I jump around on which stories/scripts I spend time with and I am doing it yet again. It is part of my short attention span I suppose. At work I often do a few different tasks simultaneously. I can be doing data/chart entry and in between each run a different original through the copier, take a call, place them on hold for another call... etc, etc, and I like that. It breaks up the day, keeps it interesting, and I get more done. In a busy office I guess multitasking makes sense -but for my stories, it's time for... do I dare say it? ... commitment?

Like life, I guess eventually one has to choose a course, get their ducks in a row and move forward. I don't think I could just work on "one" story but I also have this blog and can dabble in other writing like an essay or poem. It can be like reading, I always have a story going, but sometimes I pick up a magazine instead.

So then the decision becomes which story? Reality Fades is the above mentioned one. In some ways I've avoided it because I believe it will be the hardest to write -it has become personal and the story line is difficult. But I know the characters very well and I know the story including the end - just need to figure out how to tell it.

Then I have a script idea which seems like it should be easy to write. Not that long ago I made a list of pros and cons of each story/script then before I had a chance to review it a lot happened and all my stories were all neglected. Time to pull it out and make a grown-up decision...