A client recently hired me to read a manuscript she has been working on for a few years. She had feedback from friends. Paid developmental editors. And still, she looked at it and knew it wasn’t ready. When she sent me the manuscript, she wanted to know: Should she keep with it or throw it away?
Not long after getting that loaded question, this essay in The Rumpus appeared in my inbox about Lash’s decision to axe her novel. Her take was interesting because she had decided to fictionalize her life, thus the story did not carry the same stakes that would be there when told as a memoir. In a way, it is pushing aside one project in order to start the next, even if you do argue her novel had evolved into memoir.
My hot take: If you have a computer filled with creative pieces that you have worked and reworked and later left to never be published, then you are an artist. Not every idea becomes something. At times you work on a story so much and it never gets fulfilled.
On my computer is a file for an essay about how a famous friend of Oprah’s bought my childhood home and renovated it on television. There are over 40 revisions of that essay. Many are total rewrites. I changed the tone. I added more about my family. It got rejected from numerous publications. An editor at Harper’s Bazaar showed interest. Briefly. Then nothing.
So I have an overdone essay in my drawer. I don’t see all that past energy as wasted time. It might not have resulted in a published essay, but in all of those hours in front of the computer, I was developing a skill. I slowly learned that the essay didn’t work because I hadn’t made it interesting. I had it revolve around an anecdote. And that doesn’t carry a story.
So should you shelve a project? My annoying answer is that it depends on you. It could be you are tired of looking at it and you need a break to try out other writing pursuits. Always a good idea to give a project some breathing room and then come back to it in a month or two with fresh eyes. You also might need to let it go, and give it gratitude. Because it did help you move to your next story/essay/poem/manuscript.
Book Recommendation:
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
Janina is a middle-aged woman living in a remote town in Poland not far from the Czech border when her neighbor informs her someone is dead. Narrated from the point of view of Janina, this novel is about the transpiring murders that occur in this small town and the lingering question of who could have committed them. Janina is an eccentric woman who focuses her life in astrology and translating the works of William Blake. She abhors hunting and feels a closer kinship to animals than people. Honestly, she’s my hero. And this novel is quite thrilling, not to mention beautifully written.
This was the post I needed to read today. First off, Olga's book was an important read for me a couple of years ago, so I'm glad you reminded me. Second, I'm in the throws of sorting through those overworked essay bits... and finding Substack is a perfect place to test them out in 300 words or less. If the story wants more of me, I can tell. If it's cool at that short, post length, then that's good too! Thank you for this newsletter!