Starting over

Having just finished the manuscript for a mystery novel called SNAKE (it’s now with half a dozen readers to give me their takes on it), it’s time to start again. (This manuscript was later published as SNOW CANDY).
If I were better at writing short stories, I’d relax and write one or two. But short stories remain mysterious to me.
So time to begin another novel.
Or two?
I’ve got a couple of ideas, one a mystery that would continue the adventures of Carl North, who showed up in BODY CONTACT (published) and SNAKE (manuscript). The other would not be a mystery novel at all. What would it be like to write two novels at once, while making a living at other things? Crazy, I think.
Actually, I stretched the truth, above.
I don’t have ideas. I have possible directions. Time to start making notes toward a novel or two.
It’s important to have faith, at this stage. And somewhat difficult at times.
Here’s what Johnny Cash, old and not well, had to say about writing songs. This appears in the booklet for AMERICAN IV: THE MAN COMES AROUND . . . “But the music never stops. It’s an unending loop through my brain. Over and over and over again. Finally my head settled on the one particular song, and won’t let go.”