I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before, but I am a firm believer in finishing projects. Recently, I’ve been struggling to finish a project I started working on earlier this year. There’ve been a few natural hiccups (including getting all four wisdom teeth out), but I feel like my writing has been something I’ve had to wrestle every morning to get it going. I don’t think it’s burn out, but let’s be honest, I think everyone is a little burnt out more these days considering it’s been over a year since March 2020 started and it still feels like we haven’t gotten into April yet.
Still, I’ve been doing my best to write something every day. I’ve been tempted to put it away and start something, but I really enjoy the characters I’m working with and want to give them justice. The easiest way to keep writing is to just finish a draft and remember that you’re going to fix the parts you don’t like later. I feel like my first draft is really an opportunity to explore the characters in a situation and figure out what they should do or want to do. My current problem is pacing, so I have plans to work with that frame of mind and try to fix it all later. If I only ever wrote when I knew I what I was doing? I doubt I’d ever truly get the the work done.
There’s a saying about “You can’t polish crap”. The problem with that is that it’s easier to polish crap than it is to polish nothing.
What do you think? Agree or Disagree? If a project isn’t working for you do you still try to finish it or do you find it better to shelve things and let them stew a little?