Joys and hardships of Plot Bunnies

They're lovely, fluffy little things that jump around and make us smile. They are there to be played with, nurtured and allowed to grow into fully-fledged adult bunnies. We love them dearly.At the same time, we hate them with  a passion.
Sure, they're cute and cuddly and stop us from getting bored, but they are a lot of work. And things get very difficult when we have a lot of them: we neglect some while playing with others.
They're adorable little distractions.

I've heard lots about plot bunnies, and the problems they cause writers, while searching the interwebs. People often get side-tracked from one plot by another and end up abandoning their original to pursue the new one - only to repeat the same process a month or so later. This definitely doesn't get things done and leaves many, perfectly good, stories abandoned and unfinished (such a waste).
There are many arguments for leaving bunnies by the way-side: "this new one is better/ more commercially viable" or "I don't like this one any more". I have to admit, I've considered dropping things before; because I have a block that I can't seem to get past, or I start thinking that it isn't really that great a story.
But - in the end - what I'd say to these arguments is: if you can't finish this project, how do you know you'll be able to finish the next?
Even if your current story never actually goes anywhere, just sits in your Documents gathering figurative dust, you'll still have gained something from it - be it the confidence to finish something else or an actual improvement in your writing. You never know, in a few years you may look back on it with a more objective view and decide it's actually worth something. Maybe with some re-writing and/or editing it could actually be a good book in itself.
What I'm really saying is: every plot bunny deserves to be played with and allowed to grow, but you can't just leave one to shrivel and die because it is no longer your favourite.

One way to combat this would be multi-tasking and trying to write several stories at once (when I was younger I often had hundreds of fanfictions on the go at the same time - though I never wrote any of them down). However, this isn't an easy thing to do and puts more stress on you as a writer - that's what I've found anyway.

So far in my writing process I haven't had to worry too much about plot bunnies, as my brain has decided to be cooperative and only focus on one thing (for once!). But two days ago it - once again - decided to throw another idea into my head in the form of a dream (though thankfully not involving any hot, blood-sucking men). I was really quite surprised how well-formed the idea was, considering its source (my subconsciousness is not known for its rationality), but I know I can't work on it at the same time as my current WIP.

What I've decided to do is put the rest of my bunnies on ice or slow-growth food while I work on my book. I write the all the ideas down, in a newly-designated 'Plot Bunny Notebook', as they come to me: including all the details or plot that I've come up with so far and any images that stuck in my mind when thinking about it (I had a lot of images in that dream!).
Then I leave them.
Let them sit until my WIP is done and dusted, then I'll get out the notebook and decide which bunny I want to write next.
Another technique, that I've untilised on a fanfiction that I'm working on, is the slow-burn method. I don't focus much time or energy on this project. Just occasionally when I'm going through a slow patch with my WIP or I need another way to get the creative juices flowing, I sit down and write a chapter or two on my fanfiction. Fanfictions don't require much character development or world-building as a novel - most of it's been done for you - but it's a good way of warming up your writing muscles before you get on with your own book. And of not letting that other, smaller, project drop.

So, that's my thoughts for the day.
Hope someone finds it useful.
Thank you to those of you who are actually reading this blog - especially RaeAnn your comments always cheer me up :)
W-O