Finishing the Book you Started to Write a While Ago

Sometimes, for various reasons, even the most experienced writers need to put book projects aside before they're complete. Maybe you need to get clear about what you really want to say, maybe you have another big project to focus on, or maybe you just don't know what to do next. So what's the best thing you can do? After a while, get back into it!

Just because you set something aside, doesn’t mean you'll never finish it. All it takes is a decision to finish what you started. However, whether you set your book aside because of time, because you needed space to get clear on the topic, or because you just finished a draft and had no idea what to do next, picking up where you left off can be a challenge.

A few weeks ago, I started working on a half-finished book that I'd set aside nearly a year ago. For various reasons, I needed time away from it so I could focus on finishing other projects. And although I didn't plan on being away for a year, the past is the past, and we do what we can. But I realized that the longer I waited, the harder it would be, so I made the decision to get it back on my to-do list.

With the decision made, I spent some time thinking about what I really wanted this book to accomplish and what did I most wanted to say. When I set this book aside, I did so, in part, because the meaning of all my ideas hadn't become clear to me yet. I didn't know what exactly I wanted to say, and we all know that's not a very productive perspective to write from. Therefore I decided to take a few months off to think about it. Now that I was back, I wanted to go into the project with the clarity I lacked before. Thankfully, those months away allowed me to return with the so much needed perspective.

After getting clear on what exactly I wanted my book to communicate, I started reading everything I'd already written and after that started working on it again. And no matter how long you've been sitting on your unfinished book, you can do the same: start by revisiting and getting clear on what you really want your book to be about and then read what you have written with fresh and critical eyes. Seeing where you need to go from there will be much easier, and you'll be able to jump in and write with the same energy you had when you started writing the book, no matter how long ago that was.