A Tall Stack of Projects

Or: What to work on—and when?

I was extremely hungry throughout the entire process of writing this newsletter

Check out my first post here to read more about the namesake of this newsletter and make a copy of the input/output tracking sheet if you so desire.

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I first heard the term “stacking projects” in graduate school. My MFA is in Writing for the Screen and Stage so it covered playwriting, TV writing, screenwriting, writing for the internet, production, and editing. Since it was geared toward commercial pursuits, we covered more business concepts than most writing MFA’s do.

The idea behind stacking projects is that as a working writer, you need to have many things in development at once since you never know when something will hit.

Here are some of the stages a project can be in, from my experience:

• Research: you’re thinking about stuff, perusing articles, watching YouTube videos, reading books on similar topics, being inspired by movies and TV. Basically, you’re inputting, either for an idea you already have that you need more texture for, or because you’re in search of a little inspiration for a new one.

• Ideating (pro tip: if you want to sound smart and charge a higher hourly rate, never say “coming up with ideas,” always say “ideating”): you’re brainstorming, maybe taking some notes. In my program we had to pitch ideas for longer projects at the top of each semester, so this stage often involved writing a one-page synopsis of the project and form (TV pilot, screenplay, webseries, etc). I still write synopses for myself whenever I start a new project, and adjust it as I go.

• Outlining: this was massively stressed in my graduate program since it’s a paid step in TV and film. We have to outline EVERYTHING prior to writing it. It was extremely irritating at the time, but I have to admit that outlining has been a game changer for me as I continue in my career. Thank you, professors! This is a breakdown of the structural beats and what happens in each scene.

• Drafting: you’re writing the damn thing!!

• Rewriting: you’re rewriting the damn thing because it was bad!! (this stage can go on for a long time)

• Feedback: someone else is reading it; this is a good time to watch TV

• Editing: implementing feedback, your own or other peoples’s, starting to think about the outlet or intended next step for the project (very often you go back to feedback after this, then back to editing, then back to feedback…)

• Final tweaks: no more structural changes, editing for rhythm, word choice, reading out loud, proofreading

• Submitting/Taking meetings/Applying: the project has reached a stage where other people can be brought in to see about taking it to the next level; or, you’re using it to submit to competitions or other opportunities, and there’s additional work here of coming up with more ideas, doing application essays, meeting deadlines, etc.

• Submission: your project is out working in the world for you!!

• Resting: You’re stuck on how to implement a note, or you’ve lost the ability to look at the project objectively. You haven’t dropped it, but there’s some insight you need from either other people, research, or your own mind to continue forward.

There are other stages, and you might have some worked into your process, but these tend to be the main buckets for me.

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I’ve been very intro lemon ricotta pancakes this spring

So: what does it mean to “stack projects?”

It means having various projects in different buckets at the same time.

This requires both a tracking system as well as a knowledge of what type of energy each project requires to push it forward.

Here is my current stack, which I’ll be working on for the rest of this month:

• I’m redoing the opening act of my first novel according to my agent’s notes (Editing)

• I’m working on completing the first draft of a humor piece I’ve had mostly written for a month (Drafting)

• I’m implementing notes for a book proposal I’m co-writing with a friend (Editing into Final Tweaks)

• Waiting to hear about a co-written humor piece I have out at a big outlet (Submission)

• I’m starting a book proposal for a new gift book idea and reading a lot in that area to get a sense of the market on this particular topic (Drafting and Research)

• I’m working on my second novel and adjusting the outline for the second half of the book based on some class feedback on the first half (Outlining/Rewriting/Research)

This is actually a pretty nice mix for me. I have several projects that are about to be handed off, whether to my agent for next steps, or to other people for feedback. I have a mix of short and long projects, creative and business. Personally, I really enjoy flexing different mental muscles throughout the weeks and months. I would not want a month that had three projects all in the Drafting phase—that’s too many words!!

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It’s been too long since I’ve gone to an IHOP!!

Another reason I like to clearly see which bucket each project in my stack is in is because different buckets require different amounts of mental energy.

I can ideate when I’m tired—in fact, I often have very good ideas when tired, because my internal editor isn’t shooting them down. But I CANNOT do major structural edits while tired. For those, I need to be coming off a great night’s sleep, have achieved caffeine-level nirvana, and have a larger chunk of time (minimum three hours) for thinking and trying new things, often handwritten in a notebook. If I only have 30 minutes, I’ll usually do a rewrite on a scene or humor piece where I’m very clear on the edit needed—I’m working on amping up the title and final three jokes of a piece, for example

I track my projects in Trello, with each stage being its own column. It’s very satisfying to drag them to the next column. I also use my calendar to designate which projects I’m doing on each day of the week.

Here’s my stack breakdown for this week:

Monday, I wrote this newsletter (Drafting—>Editing—>Final Tweaks) and today, I’m meeting with my collaborator to do those edits on the book proposal (Editing—>Final Tweaks). Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I’ll go to the rewrite of my first novel (Editing, with some Drafting of new pages). Friday, I have it scheduled to do some reading for the gift book proposal, so it will be a day of Research and Ideating.

To me, this is really the fun part of writing for a career—no day is the same and as long as I hold myself accountable, I can make my creative own schedule a lot of the time. Of course, as a recovering workaholic I have certainly over-stacked at times (I was pretty consistently over-stacked from 2017-2020), but I do feel like these days, my stacking skills have become much improved.

So there’s my current stack—what’s yours? Share in the comments!

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Do you stack projects? How do you manage them all, mentally and logistically? Share your systems with us!

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ABOUT ME: My name is Caitlin Kunkel and I’m a comedy writer, long-time teacher, and creator of The Second City’s Online Satire Writing Program. I currently teach classes and consult on gift book proposals, modern adaptation, satire, and comedic literature. I co-founded The Belladonna Comedy and the Satire and Humor Festival, and I co-wrote the satirical gift book New Erotica for Feminists: Satirical Fantasies of Love, Lust, and Equal Pay, named one of the Top 10 Comedy Books of 2018 by Vulture.