I have always been one to jump from project to project. Lately, I’ve been trying to understand why.

The answer is actually very simple. I have ADHD. I was never diagnosed as a child, but the signs have always been there. Now, as an adult, it manifests in a number of ways—one of which is my constant pull from project to project.

I have started countless projects that I haven’t finished because I jumped to the next. For this reason, I have been trying to understand how I can focus my creative mind.

Over the years, I have developed a system for taking notes on each of my ideas. It has made it easier for me to follow my passion. If I get an idea for a new story, I just need to open up Notion (my notetaking app of choice) and write it down. When I need it, I know where to find it.

Once, my best friend asked what our version of a Christmas movie would look like. Within a few seconds I was able to respond with two movie ideas. How? I had already written them down. I just had to pull out my notes.

Which brings us to now.

This week I have been reading about writing short books to start a writing business. In Michelle Kulp’s book, Write Your Way to $100K, she outlines two paths: either write a book to drive sales to your business or write a ton of books to drive sales of your books. Right now, I’m leaning towards the later.

Kulp started her writing business by challenging herself to write 12 books in 12 months. That’s right. She wrote one book a month for a year—and it paid off. She was able to build up a passive income of several thousand dollars a month. Since that’s my goal, I am considering trying her strategy.

She recommends a few strategies. One, write books in a series. This helps to iterate on an idea instead of starting from scratch each time. It also helps to build an audience of readers. Second, alternate writing longer and shorter books. I have outlined several books—some of which are relatively short.

In a video from BookLaunchers, I forget which one, she said something that caught my attention. She suggested that authors of nonfiction books should write about a topic they want to be known for. That made me think. What do I want to be known for?

My interests are all over the map. I have outlined two novel series, a series of poetic memoirs, and many nonfiction books. I have struggled with this question for over a year. What do I want to focus on? But because of my ADHD brain, I don’t want to focus! I want to do it all!

I have also been thinking what book ideas I could write quickly so that I can start to build up a catalogue of work. Yesterday, I figured it out.

For the past two years, I have been training my colleagues at work on how to use AI in their classrooms. I have already worked out a lot my ideas on the topic. I just need to write them down.

So, I came up with the idea for a book: Co-Teaching with Robots: Being Human in the AI Assisted Classroom. Here is a mock-up cover I might use:

I like to develop projects out of order (no surprise), so I made this cover to inspire me. I started to outline the book and I started to think I could actually write this in a month.

Then, I kept reading Kulp’s book. She asked what series our books could fit into. So, I started to think how I could build this idea into a series. After some work, I came up with two more books ideas (I’m not going to share everything right now though).

So, I have some ideas and I’m motivated. What could be wrong? Right? RIGHT?

Well, remember I said I have ADHD? My concern is that I’ll get started on this project because it’s the latest shiniest idea in my head, but when I get a new idea, I’ll quit and move on. I don’t want to do that.

Which brings me to the title of this article. If you can’t decide what to write, maybe because you don’t have any ideas or you have too many ideas, write what you can finish.

A lot can be learned by working on a project, even if you don’t finish it, but if your goal is to publish—then publish.

I’m talking to myself as much as I am to you. I need to take this advice too.

So, my plan for the next month is to put my head down and focus on writing a short 100-ish page book on AI in the classroom. I have a plan. I am motivated. When I start to lose that motivation, I’m going to try to push through.

What are you motivated to write? Maybe we can do it together?

I’ll update you on my progress next week. Until then, thanks for reading.

—Jacob