On being stuck between a rewrite and a new story

I have been having serious issues writing. First I had a paralysing inability to think of anything to write about. This caused me a huge amount of distress as I started to question why I write, and even if I should write at all. In the end, it turned out the way it always does: yes, I do have to write. No, I don't always know why. I only know that when I'm not writing for long periods, I feel incomplete, as if there's something I should be doing and am not, as if I'm itching somewhere and just can't reach the right spot to scratch that itch.


So now I'm seriously back to writing, committed to at least doing something, even if it is only updating this blog. I do know, however, that in the wise and paraphrased words of Stephen King, the time we spend talking about writing is time we're not actually writing, so I do want to get down to getting words down on the page. Thus my conundrum:

I finished (for a loose interpretation of the word) a "novel" (another loose interpretation) during NaNoWriMo last year, which, yay. First time I've actually done that and left with something worth keeping. But now it's four months later and it's still just sitting there on the hard drive, all lopsided and amateurish and in a sore need of a rewrite and even a rething of some of the core aspects and yes, even some severe plotting.

On the other hand, there's this story I've been wanting to write since my time in America, about Janie Got a Gun. Yes, the inspiration for that was the Aerosmith song and my paranoia regarding involuntary commitment. To a mental hospital, not to romance, that is. So I finally have something I can do with that idea, the beginnings of a concept, but it's still pretty incomplete.

Now I'm standing before the choice: finish what I've started or go on to something new first, before returning to the unfinished business. Clear my writing palate, so to speak, or strap down and workshop those words into something usable?

For the moment I've pretty much decided to finish the one I have right now and slowly start collecting ideas and plotting an outline for the Janie one so that I could attempt it for this year's NaNo, and it feels like the right choice.