Writing Is My Drink

You started a book a few months or years ago and perhaps even wrote quite a bit and then Something Happened. Maybe you got distracted by a life event or current events. Maybe work got busier. Perhaps you got spooked or fatigued. Or maybe the seasons simply changed from summer to fall or winter to spring, the routine of the new season whisking you away from the writing.

At first you thought you’d get right back to it. But then days turned to weeks; weeks turned to months. Now you feel like you’ve drifted too far to swim back. A return seems impossible.

But it is possible to go back to an abandoned writing project after even months or years. Yes, the force field of resistance can feel impenetrable, but it actually can be dissolved. I’ve watched writers get back into something they’d felt was entirely lost to them. So let’s look at some steps you could take to make your way back into an abandoned writing project.

Step One: Lower the Stakes

As you start this process, it can be helpful to be open to the idea that you might not be able to reengage with the project. In exploring the possibility of going back, you may realize that the moment has passed for writing this book. You might realize that the issue that stopped you before is still present. And this could mean you’re ready to close the door on this project for now, which could be ultimately liberating even if initially disappointing. You could free yourself to move onto a new creative project. You could let it go and it wouldn’t be the end of your work as a writer. Many writers I know–including myself–have let go of projects they’d spent many hours on. Normalize the idea that not every idea turns into a book.

Step Two: Check in with the Resistance

On a scale of 1-10, how high is your resistance? Write down that number. And write a sentence or two about what scares you about looking at the project again and what you remember about why you stopped. It’s good to practice a bit of radical acceptance around the resistance–to acknowledge that it’s real and accept it as a normal feeling and not a sign that you’re lazy or that the project is unworthy.

Step Three: Set a Timer

Set a timer for a manageable amount of time for taking an initial glance. What you’re “managing” here is your resistance. Could you do 20 minutes? 10? 5? In her piece “Learning to Work,” Virginia Valian writes about having so much resistance that she set her timer for just 5 minutes for her initial dive back in to her dissertation. You want to set yourself up for future forays back in by minimizing the stress of this first visit.

Step Four: Opening the File

Spend your allotted time skimming through, seeking out passages/scenes that excite you. Linger on those. What’s working well there? Is there something you could go further with? Take notes on what you could write next.

Step Five: Repeat Steps Three and Four

I suggest you repeat these timed sessions–perhaps lengthening them incrementally–until you either find yourself wanting to dig in and write or quite certain that something isn’t right about this project for you right now.

If it seems like the project is currently untenable, you could try returning to it later or consider the possibility of a radical new approach. Is there something you could add to or alter about the structure. I’ve seen writers resurrect a project by folding it into a completely separate project. Twyla Tharp says in The Creative Habit, “You don’t have a really good idea until you combine two little ideas.”” and this can be so true with memoir. Maybe there’s another narrative that could be brought in or some researched exposition on a topic your story touches on. Or, is there an aspect of this material you could extract? Is there a backstory you could remove and develop independently. Maybe the project as you’d previously conceived of it can’t be revived but there’s some gold in there you could spin into something new.

Step Six: Build on your Momentum

Keep using the timer for writing sessions and consider what other supports could keep your momentum going. Taking a class with a deadline? Joining a writing group? Dropping into online cowriting sessions? Writing in a cafe? Most of the things that keep us writing involve proximity to other writers and deadlines. Normalize needing both.

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