Can't See The Wood For The Trees

Hello everyone,
     Well, we're two weeks into the new year and so far I've kept my promise, (although it has been tough sometimes) I wrote six sentences the other night at 11.51pm, so determined was I to keep my promise.
     Another thing that seems determined to keep me from writing is one of my cats. Whether I'm using a pen and notebook or tapping away on the laptop, she will come and sit on top of them and it's very hard to type with a cat on the keyboard, or chewing the end of your pen. Her ample brother on the other hand, can be much worse, if he sits on the laptop, I can't even see it.
     But furry problems aside, I have almost finished the first draft of my orphanage story and finally settled on a title I'm happy with, (but forcing myself to work on only one thing at a time is hard) I've also decided to submit my short stories to writing competitions before they go into my collection as an anthology. So now I'm busy searching the web for any short story horror comps, (well you never know your luck)
     I hope to finish the orphanage this week, but then comes another problem, (yes, I'm always looking for potential problems) what to start on next? I've started three other short stories, but which one do I choose? They are all vying for my attention, begging me to finish them.
     As for my poor novel, (we've been apart for a long time) Well, I re-read half of it the other day and can already see some obvious flaws. They should be easily fixable, thank God, but maybe that just proves I needed a break from it. As I'd become so close to it, I couldn't see the problems anymore; poor writing, repeated sentences and no flow in some places. . . . .I was ashamed. I could do better, I can do better and I will. But it took the break to realise it.
     So a note of warning to anyone who's writing a novel . . . have a break from it. Put it away for a few weeks and ignore it, write something else, just don't touch it and I guarantee that when you do go back to it, you'll see it with different eyes. Good Luck and happy scribbling.