What next? Why switch?

Over the last few years I've posted here and there about where I get story ideas. The very first post I put up on this blog had some thoughts on that exact subject. Deciding what to commit to, though, is a different problem.

I can pull up dozens of ideas quickly, just by accessing the right place on my computer. Everything from half-finished thoughts to dozens of written pages in a variety of genres. Actually deciding to work on something and commit to completing it, though, takes a lot more thought than just jotting down a topic to look at some time later.

At this point I've written four novels, of which I've published three. Someday I might go back to the first one, but it would take some serious rewriting to bring it up to where I am now as an author. The next book I want to tackle is very different from any of these four - the three Bladesmen Lords novels in a fantasy/steampunk world, and the first one in an alternate Earth modern day setting. But before deciding for sure, I need to set some time aside and dig through those old ideas to make sure none of them grip me more than what I currently have in mind. It might be that I go through all of them and instead get excited for another Bladesmen Lords novel, but I suspect I'll return to that world some ways down the road instead of in 2015.

So, unless my browsing through other ideas brings a hidden gem to light that excites me more, I'll likely dig into my next project soon - a "near-future" (set within the next century) sci-fi action novel. It's a significant change of pace from the Bladesmen Lords novels but variety is the spice of life. If nothing else, I want to show that I can write in a variety of areas and produce consistent quality.