Momentum, or lack thereof

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So, April ended and my Camp Nanowrimo story...didn't.  I managed to make a little over half of my goal, but there's no winning certificate for me this year.  I tried to figure out why that was, since Nanowrimo has gone pretty well for me the last few years.

One of the big issues I came across was that I lost interest in the story I was writing.  By about ten thousand words in, I realized that I was having a hard time caring about what happened to my characters.  Even as they were doing things that were off-script (as characters are wont to do), it didn't really interest me.  I found myself drawn back to the world of Paranormal Investigations, which had been put on the shelf for a few months.

Once I shifted to the other story, my momentum moved much faster than before.  I knew these characters, I'd spent time with them, and I cared about what happened next - all of these things were lacking in the original story I tried to write.  Honestly, what it taught me is that I should probably shift over to the story that interests me earlier on if I want to maintain momentum.

How do you handle the lulls of writing, the "muddle in the middle"?  Do you shift projects, or just fight your way through?  Any advice you can give, I'm happy to receive it, as I clearly still have a hard time with this problem.

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