Show Notes
Are Abandoned Projects a Sign of Creative Weakness?Release Date: March 25, 2026 Writers I work with—and if I’m honest, I myself—launch multiple projects, enthusiastic about every idea. We open a document, give it a working title, tap out a few paragraphs with loads of energy. Like the squirrel, we scamper around the Internet or library doing research, gathering quotes and anecdotes to incorporate into this shiny new work-in-progress.
A few days or weeks later, we abandon it, our sentences as sparse as the squirrel’s twigs up in that tree. The raw materials of a project—research, paragraphs, quotations—sit on our hard drive. Will we return to it and continue building or abandon it for projects with more potential?
Often we do abandon the project and scamper off to start another one.
Weeks or months later, we might open our Finder window or Google Drive and scroll through our archives, astonished to see so much unfinished business: half-drafted projects, a concept of a book, or the start of a post. We can feel like we’ve wasted our time and resources.
Are we quitters? Are we creatively weak? Are we people who love to start things but get bogged down in the messy middle, throwing in the towel when we can’t find our way through?
Our inability to finish can leave us feeling embarrassed, ashamed, or frustrated.
But that’s unhelpful self-talk. Instead, in this episode, we reframe it.
Listen or head to https://annkroeker.com/2026/03/25/are-abandoned-projects-a-sign-of-creative-weakness/ to read it and access additional related reading.
And to work with one-on-one, head to https://annkroeker.com/writing-coach - I can provide you with human support for writing you produce as the thoughtful human you are...no AI necessary!
More from Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach
Find a Chunk of Writing Time for Your Creative Deep DiveRelease Date: Sep 30, 2026(episode 296) With a chunk of time you could do a deep dive into your work in progress, immersing yourself in it so your structure takes shape and your chapters emerge. Instead of chipping away at the project in Pocket Sessions, Deep Dives drop us into creative focus and flow where you binge-write, far exceeding your word count goals.
Are you book-ready? Check the 4PsRelease Date: Sep 22, 2026(episode 295) If you’ve wondered how ready you are to write a book and pursue publishing, it’s time to determine your readiness with the 4P Diagnostic. Writers who struggle to make progress are almost always stuck in one (or more) of the 4Ps: Pitch, Prose, Platform, or Practice.
Don’t have blocks of time to write? Pockets work great!Release Date: July 25, 2026(episode 294) In my last post, I recommended you value yourself and your work enough to stop putting it off. The assignment: figure out where the time goes so you find time to write.
”I don’t have time to write”- Ah, where does the time go?Release Date: July 2, 2026(episode 293) It comes up in nearly every conversation with a writer, whether in a group or one-to-one: “I don’t have time to write.”
”Oh no! My book was written by someone else!”Release Date: May 17, 2026(episode 292) Discovering "comps" (comparable books) for your book proposal is discouraging. But this episode gives you the good news: your comps validate reader interest and show your topic is in demand.