The Lost

This is going to be short because both my Surface and my Alienware laptops have been possessed by demons and are refusing to function correctly. Let's see if I can beat the weird on this box before it nails shut my digital coffin.

Projects. Do I abandon them? Yes. All the time.

Lots of ideas. ALL THE TIME with the ideas. But I have a strict rule. If I'm working on another book, the idea takes a number and stands in line. This means a page or two of notes and/or character information to remind me what caught my attention in the first place. Then it gets stuck in a file. When I finish a book and want another project, I rifle through my idea folders and see what jumps out at me. Some ideas were never that great to begin with and they die right there. And I will say that 90% of projects that get abandoned are abandon at the idea stage when they have very little invested in them.

But we're really asking about books. Not ideas. And yes. I do have books that I've abandoned. Completed books that will never see the light of day simply because they represent learning curve. It's painfully obvious when you look at them that I had no idea what I was doing - or that I was in the messy process of figuring out what I was doing. Maybe. We've talked about them before.

I have a book that's finished and sitting - not quite abandoned - it's stewing, I think, because it had a flaw in the telling of the story that I believe I now know how to solve. No problem. I'm just in the middle of finishing a series. It gets priority.

So while I won't say 'never' - I will say that I haven't yet abandoned a book in progress since I got published. But the temptation to do so right about now is REAL. I'm at that whiny 'but this is haaaaaaard' stage of composition and that's the point when historically, things have broken free for me in figuring out the last bits. I'm counting on that.

Assuming that at least one of the computers will cooperate. That I've made it this far without incident (the Surface likes to random close what I'm working on for reasons as yet unknown) I suspect I have a heat issue on this box. Heat death. It took my gaming box and now it's coming for my writing box.

I might as well go for a swim in the gator pond.

5 Reasons Projects Are Abandoned

No one likes to say "I give up." We're taught from a young age that quitting is a horrible character flaw. On the other hand, the older we get, the more we understand we can't do everything. Our time, energy, and resources are limited.

Therefore, here are 5 Reasons I Abandon Projects:

1) Don't fit the schedule
My analytical project manager brain always assigns priorities, rankings if you will, to projects. A leftover from my dot-com days that says if dates slip then features drop. Features, in this case, could be a free short story to include in a newsletter or a perma-free novella told from an alternate POV to boost sales to a series.

2) No longer the right solution to a goal
When planning projects for the next year to 18 months, things change. ~gasp~ Meanwhile, I'm learning more about the business through classes, shared best practices, or trial and error. What was once the best strategy has to be revised. If my goal is to increase sales by 8% over 6 months, how I get there can absolutely result in me dumping one strategy if a less resource-demanding solution comes along.

3) Increase in price
Inflation is real. Budgets are necessary. P&Ls are good business practices. Market changes happen. That awesome resource that was affordable in the planning stages but has since increased its fees so its now out of budget? That kills a project toot sweet. Then are the projects for which I budgeted X but didn't properly account for all the inputs, so it should never have been in my plans in the first place. ~doh!~

4) Unnecessary
It was a genius concept when it was hatched, but it had a window of opportunity that closed, the strategy was trashed in favor of something else, or a third-party stepped up to provide the service/solution/alternative means (aka I'm not the one who has to do the work anymore, woot!).


5) Sailing A Sinking Ship
If it's a group project and key players are flaking out--barring a legal or financial cost of non-delivery--I'm not going to stick around to salvage the project. I spent a lot of my corporate days being the fixer, the catcher, the patcher, and the cleaner. If I'm not being paid handsomely to play those parts, I am not assuming ownership of someone else's failures. Similarly, if it's a group project and it comes to light that asshats abound, I will bail. It's not worth having my brand/reputation dragged through the mud on a crap product associated with crappier people. Harsh? Maybe. Too damn old to care. 
Note: It's not to say I'll run away if things get complicated; I take my commitments very seriously. However, I've been in this game long enough to recognize collaborative and creative abuse.

There's no shame in reevaluating a project for its usefulness, its cost (opportunity and financial), or its ROI. That's just smart living. Needs evolve. Strategies evolve. Projects are dumped while others are picked up. If it's not the right project for the goal you want to achieve, then kill it and move on.

Fish or Cut Bait?

I'm in Denver for the #RWA18 National Conference. I think this sculpture of the dancing ladies is particularly appropriate.

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is Why do you abandon a project? What would make you (or let you) finish it?

I’m not much for abandoning projects. I don’t ever dramatically burn pages or delete documents. Now, some have gone into the equivalent of purgatory, languishing (possibly forever) in a file folder I may or may not be able to find. Some projects have been organ donors, giving up vital sections so another story may live. Those get laid to rest with reverence and celebration.

But why do I abandon projects? Usually it has to do with being able to sell them. That’s not the be-all and end-all, as I’ve certainly self-published some projects that were difficult to sell. But if the people who support me aren’t enthusiastic about a project, there’s usually a good reason for it.

As for what it would take for me to finish it, the first and most important reagent in this chemical equation is time. I’d need to be not working on something else. But that’s an oversimplification, because “time” in this sense is truly determined by priorities. In other words, devoting the time to finishing that would have to be more important than working on something else. Often that something else is more immediately marketable, so that would have to alter.

But I can totally see a day when I’ve finished some of my current series and one of these back-burner projects becomes relevant again.

Here’s three projects I abandoned and why – and what it would take for me to pick it up again:

1.     A narrative nonfiction book about my college sorority

My editor said I wasn’t ready to write it and to put it in a drawer for a year. That was 2005 or thereabouts, so 13 years ago. That one could still happen, if I get a yen to go back to nonfiction.

2.     A memoir about my grandparents and their scandalous marriage.

This is something I worked on for my Ucross Foundation Fellowship, a LONG time ago. I’m not entirely sure I know why I put it down. It felt massive at the time and it could be I didn’t have the chops to write it. Same as above.

3.     A twisty shamanistic magic tale

That’s an overly simple way of describing a complex story that would be a lengthy series, if I can get it right. I’ve written the first book twice in one genre – and massively revised several times – and did 100 pages in another. The first time I wrote it, I definitely didn’t have the chops to pull it off. Maybe even the next few times. It will get picked up again, when I feel I can do it justice.

In today’s podcast, I mention the reading Darynda Jones and I did at the SFF Reading Series at Denver’s BookBar last night, and how we discussed the importance of finishing writing projects. It IS critically important for newbie writers to learn to finish a novel or story. But there’s also no shame in realizing you don’t yet have the skills to execute it. The trick, of course and always, is being able to tell the difference. Thus it’s always better to finish it. At least write it and tie it off. Then, if you have to set it aside and write something else to hone your craft, then do that.

Abandoned projects aren’t dead, just sleeping. They’ll wait for you to be ready.