Unfinished Business

I’m not usually in the habit of dispensing advice. I figure if you really need it, you’re better off with someone more qualified than I am. Today, I’m going to say something bordering on advice, though maybe it’s closer to encouragement:

It’s okay to have unfinished projects.

All right, I should probably qualify that statement. It’s okay as long as it’s not something you are commissioned to do or specifically being asked for or it’s part of your job. I’m speaking strictly of all those folders on your hard drive containing half-finished short stories, the NaNoWriMo novel you decided was shit and scrapped, and the two dozen ideas for future projects you managed to get one paragraph into before abandoning it.

Listen carefully, kids. Those are okay. You are okay.

I’m sure someone will debate me on this subject, coming along with well-intentioned Words of Wisdom about how you must keep writing, you must just sit down and do it or you’ll never finish anything. What if they’re wrong?

I have a handful of incomplete works right this very minute, taking up space in my online storage. Some of them seemed like good ideas at the time but lost steam. Others were ditched because I developed a better understanding of life and the human experience. Still others are diamonds in the rough, waiting for further inspiration.

None of that matters because I did eventually learn to finish a project. For me, this is a convoluted process which involves lots of terrible writing, multiple edits, some crying, and a lot of swearing—sometimes all in the same day.

We need to stop stressing about our unfinished work. I used to think that if I kept starting projects, I’d never finish one. To a point, this is true, but only in the sense that it’s important to realize that creative work is sometimes hard. The truth is, it’s okay to realize something just isn’t going to work. It’s all right to keep looking for what will.

I wrote a “novel” during NaNo which I decided was terrible. I’ve actually concluded that NaNo is plain terrible for me personally in general, but that’s a story for another day. I threw out approximately 98% of the novel, including the original idea. I kept the couple of things that I knew would make a much better story, and I discovered something important about the way I write and what gives me the spark to keep going. If I’d kept it and tried to edit it to death to make it palatable, I’d have ended up with a gloopy mess. Sure, someone might have wanted to take a bite, but I think an intentional steak dinner is better than accidental beef stew.

Go ahead and leave a project if it isn’t feeling right. Maybe you need space to think, or maybe you have some changes to make before you continue. Or maybe it’s just plain okay to scrap the thing and start fresh. Whatever gets you out of bed to write is a-okay.

I think the best advice I could probably give on this is to read everyone else’s advice and then do what your gut tells you. That’s not to say you should be impulsive and scrap everything the second it gets tough. It’s enough to give yourself permission to cry uncle when you’ve done your best and it still feels wrong.