Ready To Quit Your Big Writing Project (Like NaNoWriMo)? Here’s How To Stay The Course.

Writing, in general, is no joke. But working on a major writing project, like a book-length manuscript, is seriously no joke.

The great thing about beginning a new project is the excitement. The novelty. The newness of it all. It’s shiny and thrilling and you probably feel full of ideas, even if you’re also a little scared.

Have you been there before? In that place where you’re buzzing with the energy of something new and the words just flow?

I’ve been there. It’s fantastic. I wish all my writing could exist in that elusive, delicious place of flow and ease.

It doesn’t, though. For me, and I’m guessing for many other writers, too, there comes a point when the momentum of starting something new fades and the writing process gets a bit… stickier.

Know what I mean?

Maybe you’re there right now and it’s making you want to light your manuscript on fire and walk away forever.

I’m here to tell you there’s nothing wrong with you if you feel like hitting select all and then delete would solve all your writing woes. Nothing at all. It’s absolutely normal.

But I don’t think you should do it!

Yes, sometimes a project really isn’t working for any number of reasons. I’m not talking about that. You need to use your better judgment and decide if you’re facing a project that is truly flawed or…

If your desire to scrap it all and never look back stems from self-doubt and resistance.

Only you can decide if your project is worth sticking with. But believe me when I say that most of the time, it is.

Here’s how to stay the course instead of bailing when the writing gets tough.

Take a break from your project.

Set it aside for at least a couple of days to a couple of weeks, or longer. Don’t read it, don’t work on it, don’t even think about it. Just close the document and don’t open it again for a little while.

If you’re working on something time sensitive like NaNoWriMo, you probably don’t have the luxury of doing this for more than a day or two if you want to stay on track to hit your deadline. But you can still take a conscious break, even for a day.

A little bit of distance is sometimes all it takes to feel excited about a project again. When you’re deep in the writing process, it can be hard to see the entire landscape of what you’re doing. Stepping away helps you see your project for what it is again, and that will usually remind you of how it felt to start it in the first place.

Try something new.

If taking a break isn’t possible or just doesn’t work for you, then try something new in your writing process. Don’t underestimate the power of novelty on the human brain!

If you always write at home in the mornings, try writing at a coffee shop or library in the evenings for a few days instead.

If you always start by re-reading what you wrote during your last session before jumping into a new session, try starting with a writing exercise or prompt instead — and do it by hand!

Speaking of writing by hand, if you always type your work, try writing your next scene or chapter in a notebook instead. It’ll active a different part of your brain and it might help you see the story differently, too.

Whatever it is that you try, give yourself a chance to feel refreshed with our writing process instead of it feeling like a slog.

Get some feedback.

Another way to help you stay the course when you want to quit is to simply ask for feedback from a trusted reader.

Oftentimes, we’re our own harshest critics. We read our own writing and nitpick it to death, whereas a trusted reader will probably have more good things to say about it than bad.

Ask a fellow writer friend or someone whose opinion you trust if they’d mind reading a few pages of what you’re working on. Tell them the specific kind of feedback you need. Don’t just ask them if it’s good or not! That won’t help you at all.

Instead, you can tell them you want to know their first overall impression, where they feel the piece is really shining, and where the piece is lacking — and why, if they can articulate it.

You can even ask them if they think it’s worth continuing to work on the project. I think the right kind of reader will tell you yes almost every single time. If you don’t trust your own opinion about it, hopefully you trust theirs!

Let go of your expectations and power through.

Consider this tip your dose of tough love for the day.

You started this project for a reason, right? You must’ve had some expectations for it in the beginning, yes?

If you feel ready to quit and you’re pretty sure it’s because of self-doubt or resistance (or fatigue or burnout or whatever) rather than the project being fatally flawed…

It’s time to drop your expectations and just let it be whatever it wants to be.

This is hard because it requires surrendering what you thought you were writing and accepting what you’re actually writing.

I’ve never met a writer who was able to perfectly translate the story in their mind onto the page. It’ll always turn into something other than what you expected, whether in small ways or big ones. And that is absolutely ok!

Expectations stifle creativity. You might feel like you want to quit because of the glaring disconnect between what you expected and what you’re actually writing. Instead of torturing yourself, release the expectations completely.

Keep writing and see what happens. Don’t hope for it to turn out a certain way. Just let it be.

Most of the time, honestly, you have no idea what a story really is until it’s completely on the page.

Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and see it through to the end. At that point, you’ll have a better idea of what you were trying to do, and you can make a plan for revision.

But you can’t fix something that isn’t written! Keep going, keep writing, and don’t throw in the towel before you have a real chance to see your work fully formed.

Tell me, have you ever wanted to quit a writing project?

Did you do it or did you keep going?

What did you learn from the process?