Finish it

Hey friends 👋,

A few months ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn that scared me. A writer I know announced that after five years of working on their current book, they were moving on from the project and leaving the work unfinished.

I cast no judgement on the author about this decision. I start and quit projects all the time. Sometimes putting something on the back-burner is what we need to do to prioritize new ideas and opportunities. Sometimes we're so burnt out from working on a project that it belongs in the incinerator, not the back-burner.

Quitting is heavily stigmatized in our culture, but it is a useful and important tool for any creative person.

But it still feels like shit.

Quitting makes the time spent working on a project feel wasted. Yes, we know the progress we made. We can see the growth between attempts, versions and drafts. We get to carry the improvements in craft to the next project. But those are things only we can see.

Others can't see the weeks, months, or years we put into something because we have nothing to show for it at the end. If we're lucky, the unfinished work will be honored and remembered by our parents and partners.

But the rest of the world only acknowledges work that's finished. They only praise the people who power through the perfectionism and publish – even if they think it's a piece of shit. Even if it is a piece of shit.

We respect the people who finish the marathon in 8 hours infinitely more than the people who were on pace to finish in 3 hours, but quit five miles before the finish line.

That LinkedIn post scared me like the Ghost of Christmas Future. Future me wants to stop writing this book. So present me needs to finish it before that asshole quits on it.

I have no idea if I'm running this marathon at a 3 hour or 8 hour pace. But I'm determined to finish.

Thanks for cheering me on,
Drew