Is this going somewhere?

If you poke around through my comments sections, you might see that question posed more than once.  I saw it again yesterday, and it made me stop and think.  Is this going anywhere?

I have tons of ideas for stories.  TONS.  If I had time, I would sit down and write all of them.  Unfortunately, I don't have time.  I've got lots of little snippets of stories floating around, waiting for me.

I've got four big WIPs right now - a novel called "Happily Ever After," a novel called "Til Death," a novel called "All About the Shoes," and a play with the horrible working title of "Partners."  I want to work on all of them.  However, I've got a full time job, and I'm volunteering at the local theatre as the stage manager for most of their productions lately, which leaves little time for, well, anything.  I squeeze in as much writing as I can, but it's often only on Saturday mornings that I get to sit down and write.

The play has my attention right now, because I'm halfway through the second act, and I will probably finish the first draft by next week, assuming I get time to write this weekend.  I've already got the first act out to a friend who's going to give me notes, and I've got a second friend lined up to read it.  (Both friends, by the way, are people that I trust for this sort of opinion - one is a writer, the other runs a theatre company.)  If I can get it finished and polished before the summer, I can give it to the Theatre Director of the theatre where I've been volunteering, and there's a good chance that it can be on stage for their 77th season (2010-11).  At the very least, it's a better chance than any of my novels have of getting an agent by then, since I've got connections to the theatre, and they've pledged to support the local arts in all ways.

I really want to finish "Happily Ever After."  I feel it really is the most commercially marketable of all my pieces.  It might morph into YA by the time I finish the edits, but I'm okay with that.  I really love the story.  I love the characters.  It's killing me to just let them sit there, all alone in my computer, while I finish other things.  But I need to do a little bit more research on fairy tales before I finish it.

"Shoes" is one that I wrote as my first attempt at NaNoWriMo, and the self insertion is HORRIBLE.  I've started the editing process, and it's brutal.  I've already killed one red pen, and about half of the plot, and I'm only on chapter two.  Yeesh.  But if I finish editing it, I can submit it to a critique group that I'm part of, and get some really good feedback - after being part of two critiques, I've started to figure out what sort of advice each member gives, and what sort of things each is really good at, and I'm looking forward to it.

"Til Death" is another one that has more self-insertion than I'd like in a final product, but it's not even finished yet.  But there's a part of me that doesn't need to finish it.  The first part of it was very cathartic for me, and that may be all that I need from it.  On the other hand,  I really want to finish it, just so I can kill off one of the characters, because I think that will give me a better sense of closure, both with the novel and with my life.

So I guess the answer is, "Maybe."  Eventually, I want all of these little bits to go somewhere.  But some of them may just be little bits for a while.  If I ever get picked up by an agent, though, I've got tons to pitch!