Member-only story

When Is It Time to Abandon a Project?

My writing is always evolving, and change is always occurring.

Murray "MJ" Blehart
7 min readDec 5, 2023
man atop a castle at sunset. Time to abandon a project?
Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

I started my Source Chronicles fantasy series in 1998. As of this writing, that’s 25 years ago.

While I began the series then, it remains unfinished. Yes, Book 3 — Harbinger — is ready to go to the editor. In fact, it has been for over a year. However, it’s a long book (like most fantasy tends to be) and will not be cheap to edit. I was working on Book 4 — Guardians — for a while before I set it down over 10 years ago.

I never started Book 5 — Healers — at all. What’s more, since I was largely writing as a pantser with this series, it’s never been more than a very vague outline.

My wife has wanted to see what comes next for years. I also know that there are other readers out there who would like me to continue the series. While I’d like to, I also must face a very real question.

When is it time to abandon a project such as this?

The writer I was vs the writer I am

The best way to improve your craft — any craft — is to practice. Granted, doing practice wrong leads to stagnation and even entropy, but that’s a concept for a whole other article. Practice for improvement and increased skill will impact your…

--

--

Murray "MJ" Blehart
Murray "MJ" Blehart

Written by Murray "MJ" Blehart

I explore mindfulness, positivity, philosophy, & conscious reality creation. I love to help & inspire. Also, I write sci-fi/fantasy. http://mjblehart.com

No responses yet