First Person or Third Person

Well, that chapter a day thing hasn't been working for me. :( I have been writing though. It's just that I'm doing research, and I've been trying to decide whether or not I want to introduce a particular character in first or third person (I'm mixing it up this time), whether or not I want her to play a major role, or just have a significant part in the story. Plus, I've been trying not to have too many characters. I don't want my readers to get confused. This is for Severed Hearts. I've got my outline, and plot together, but I keep changing my mind about the character's lives. I don't know if it's because I need to take a break from reading the same chapters over and over or what, but there's just something missing. I feel that if I'm going to write in first and third person, I need to be very crafty in order to pull this off. So far I've decided on third person. Ok, now... I have to decide do I want to write this character in third person present tense, or third person past tense. I've gone over all of these different ways in my head, but now I think I'll take some advice that Eric Jerome Dickey gave me and just write it all out and compare. I'm going to write the first scene in first person and third person, then present and past tense and see which one reads better. Yep! That's what I'll do. :)