Whoops, there goes my self-control.

It only took me ages, but I'm here to comfort you! Personally, based on my own history of Doing None Of The Things, Ever, you have my admiration for writing a prologue of anything, even a distraction piece!

But since we're here for motivation: What if you used the new exciting story to bribe yourself into writing the Olde Faithful story? Say, you tell yourself you can only write New Story if you've already written X amount of Regularly Scheduled Story?

Also, maybe focusing on another story for a while will let you rediscover your love of The First Story!

I think the real key here is to work on not feeling guilty. Guilt is a productivity killer, so congratulate yourself on writing a whole prologue! That's wonderful!! And then recommit yourself to a writing schedule with a project that will be something you love and can focus on. You're a writing! You did a writing thing! Maybe you work best when you're working on multiple projects, and that's a good thing to discover!

Seriously though: Try bribing yourself. New story is positive reward for working on old story. Guilt-free. It just might work!

Aww you are so motivating!!  I 100% agree, Guilt is bad mmmmmk.  And bribes.  Always bribes.

What's your new scandalous cheating story about, Kate?  

That sounds like a really cool idea, Kate! There can never be too many pirates

As for guilt: My trick is, whenever I feel guilty about something but I know the guilt isn't helpful, I give myself permission to do that thing. E.g. "I'm writing this story when I told myself I wouldn't, but it's really fun and I like it. And that's what's important, so I'm going to continue to do it. As long as I feel like writing, I'm going to keep on writing. It's okay; I'm allowed to."

I have to coach myself with permission each time I start to feel guilty, and sometimes that's a lot. But it's my life and I'm allowed to make my own choices, so I just stick with it and always give myself permission.

Sometimes I have to give myself permission to feel guilt, too! "I feel guilty for doing this, and that's okay. I'm allowed to feel guilty. My emotions are valid even when I don't want them. Guilt is normal, and I once I'm done feeling it, I'll move on to something else."

A lot of the time I'll bring whatever I'm guilty about to the front of my thinking so I can tie something constructive to the experience. "I feel guilty for [eating all the M&Ms in the bowl], and that's okay. I feel that way because I [wanted to be better about my diet but it's only been a day and I've already eaten a whole bowl of M&Ms], and that's okay too. Everyone slips up, and I'm allowed to slip up too. I think what happened this time is [the candy bowl was too close to where I was sitting, so I ended up eating every single M&M while I was watching TV and didn't really pay attention]. Now that I know what happened, I can be prepared for it next time! Next time, I'll [make sure to keep the candy bowl on the kitchen counter, where I'll have to think and make conscious choices before snacking]. I'm sure that's a good plan, and I'm sure I'll do better next time. This was a good opportunity for learning more about myself!"

I guess we just spend a lot of time doubting our feelings, or doubting their validity, or just feeling like they're wrong or inappropriate, which in my experience just makes them worse. So I feel them! I let myself feel whatever way I'm currently feeling, and that helps me process the emotions and move on at my own pace.

It might not work for everyone, and it's a long process, but I always feel better after talking to myself about it

PS Seriously though, the world needs more pirates