When It's Time to Step Away From A Project

Not every writer is going to be able to do every project. This is an unfortunately sad reality. Sometimes, no matter how interested you are in your project, no matter how much work you've got done for it, no matter how much research you've done for that particular project, the bottom line is that not every project is something you're going to be able to complete. In some cases, you're not even able to even start on it. 

There's an infinite number of reasons for this. You can't connect to the setting. You can't get into the characters. There are even projects that may be just too personal for you. 

That's fine. 

It may be something that's going to drive you crazy. And in some cases it can almost be like you're having to put your pet down.There's absolutely no way to get around that because we're human: We don't like putting an emotional investment into something and then having to walk away from it. 

Unfortunately, part of being a writer is occasionally realizing that sometimes we need to step away from something. Sometimes it's just not working. There's no way we can make everything work. Sometimes it's a limitation or skills. Sometimes it's a limitation or personality. That's fine. Everybody needs to know what their limits are. I don't care how skilled or how talented a writer you are, some projects just aren't going to work. 

So whenever that happens, just step away. Don't feel guilty. I know that last bit is going to be impossible you because you're always going to feel guilty but just just step away.If you don't you're going to go crazy trying to do something that you know is impossible. If you step away then you can deal with all of the frustration then and it won't be as bad as it could be later on. 

So the bottom line is that if you know you can't complete something just step away from it. It may be hard, but it's better to deal with it sooner than later, and frees up all of the energy that you were putting into the project so you can use it elsewhere. So let it go; you'll feel a lot better.