For about the last month, I've been working with another unpubbed novelist whose literary sensibilities match mine. She also has a young daughter, and we agreed to work more or less in tandem on our novels. I just had to commit to one.

I was working on a crime novel I'd had an idea for years before - a sequel to the novel I didn't sell - but I just couldn't pull the trigger on it. It didn't thrill me and I wasn't making time for it. But it wasn't until I sat down with my husband to watch 28 Days Later the other night that I realized the real problem was that it was in the wrong genre. Sure it had horror elements. It just wasn't a zombie apocalypse.

So I emailed the other writer and said I needed to switch gears. I'll be working on my zombie apocalypse trilogy. And guess what? My energy is revived. I've been writing a short story about werewolves (inspired by my 5-year-old) and when I'm done with that, will finish a short story set in my apocalyptic universe. Then it will be back to work on the first novella in the trilogy.

Whoever thought commitment would feel so good? ;)