my book is not good enough. (on shelving manuscripts & when to let go of a story) 

Just want to say I appreciate you prefacing all of this by saying this isn't meant to make anyone feel like they need to shelve a work. Writers are a very suggestible especially when it comes to self-doubt. Framing the video strongly in your own personal experience instead of directing it at the audience ("I am thinking about shelving this book" vs "This is why you might want to shelve your book") is a very..."ethical" way of talking about this. It's always both hard and weirdly comforting to hear about other writers' own doubts, and I'm glad to hear you talk about them as honestly as you do.

quitting doesn't mean unlearning. Project Moon still holds the value of everything you learned while working on it, even if you've ultimately decided to let it go

I've had similar issues with a work that I've attempted multiple times to write. I always considered myself more of a pantser so I went into it with the characters, an idea and mostly vibes. I only got about 17k words in before I lost steam and gave up. The idea never left me though so after I finished my first draft of another back, I decided to go back to it. I wrote an entire chapter by chapter outline, character sheets and did worldbuilding. And I still didn't get very far. I've ruminated over it for the last few months and decided to officially shelf it just two weeks ago because I realized that the passion for the work itself just isn't there. I had a hard time deciding on it because I never want to actually give up on an idea but this time it felt necessary. I got frustrated on it not working and it prevented me from actually writing. It's a difficult choice but only ever beneficial

Feeling like I've wasted my time and the guilt that comes from that is a major roadblock for me. It makes me dig in my heels on stories I know aren't working and strips a lot of joy from the process. I definitely need to learn to let things go to maintain my peace and maybe hold on to some joy for the early stages of a piece because the more i work on it the more I resent it.

The pressure to persevere for fear of "wasting time" on a work that won't be published is definitely real! Writing is one of those crafts where people tend to put a lot of emphasis on the finished product, not the journey, community, lessons learned, etc. I think that's why I've stuck with my current WIP for so long (about 3 years now), though I managed to make crucial changes that saved it from the archives. It also helps that revising has been fun--hard work, but rewarding! I think your video will be very helpful to writers who are feeling this guilt big-time. The subtle pressure to "publish, stick it out" is not talked about enough. Nice video!

you're so well-spoken! i wrote a completed 60k word draft of a novel that i eventually decided to let go and while it was a hard decision it was ultimately one that i don't regret because i still learned valuable things from the process! love your vides so much kris, they're so insightful

You literally make the best content and inspire me so much 😭 such a fabulous video, loved hearing your reflections on this topic!

I came into this video ready to accept the harsh truth that I need to walk away from my WIP. Instead, I found the spark again. I remembered why this book of mine exists, and what it means to me, and I'm so grateful to you for that.

such a beautifully said video Kris! i have one project which has been shelved for quite some time now and i really miss it. so i really hope i can pick it up again soon because, as you said - it's not a permanent goodbye. but eeee love these sit down videos sm!! xx

Ahhhh I understand this 10000% Love listening to you talk about your journey and feelings. It’s comforting to know someone feels the same way basically a number of authors have. Can’t wait for more videos with your new projects and other writing stuff ❤️

PS: Sorry for all the comments. Just found your channel and was kind of in the mood to binge watch writing videos so hear I am binging your archive. 😅

I love this so much! I think that a lot of authors hold onto projects so tightly, when sometimes they just need to be set aside, and that doesn't mean forever. I worked on a project for six years, even tried to get it published, but after a while I realized that it was a stepping stone, and I needed to let go. Thank you for this! I think a lot of people need to hear it!

I am literally nodding my head at everything you're saying Kris ❤️ I think it's so important as a writer to understand what it means to shelve a project, and why you make the choice to shelve or not shelve a project. Sometimes we just outgrow projects and that's fine! We have all done it and we will continue to do it. I support your decision to shelve Project Moon and push forward. I cannot wait to hear about the new projects you'll be sharing with us 🤗 keep being great my sweet friend!

This video was fantastic just what I needed to hear

(Apologies if this is difficult to read, in my defence english is not my first language) This resonates very strongly. I've had a project that I started working on when I was 14-15. I'm 23 now. The realisation that it's been almost 9 years really hit me a few days ago, because I genuinely didn't realise that it was that long. I kept procrastinating writing it for the majority of that time tho (I attempted writing a few disjoined scenes) and only decided to actually get into outlining and writing it properly around 2 years ago, setting myself a goal to finish the first draft in one year. That didn't happen. This story was with me through almost half of my life really. I thought about it all the time. In class. During boring car rides. Whenever I could. It's where I hid, and where I lived, for such a big chunk of my life, because the real world was scary and unfriendly and I didn't want to face it. But a lot can change between 14-23. I am not the same person. It's exactly like you said, and what you said is almost exactly what I told my therapist after venting my frustrations to her, when I eventually acknowledged that it no longer fully aligns with me. It just feels, plainly, overdue. But it really comes with so much guilt and so much grief. I felt like I owe it to the story, for it to be told, because it's been with me for so long, because I put so much work and heart into it, and because it grew and evolved alongside me, even without me ever writing a single word of it outside of my head. Naturally it holds a very special place in my heart, and it feels like a crime to abandon it. But you summed it up perfectly, the bones are all wrong. I still want to finish it, to maybe do it justice in some way, but it will not be what I fell in love with initially - because what I fell in love initially is no longer what I love - and I need to make my peace with that.

Hahah I am quitting my book now LOL JK JK hehe I really like this topic! I think about this with EUFLORIA all the time. There's a lot of like different 'advice' on quitting vs perseverance. I think it all depends on the author's perspective and their goals I think. I agree with what you say about 'growing out of it' as a person AND from a prose perspective. I'm also glad you said that editing can save anything HEHE it gives me hope :') GREAT VIDEO AGAIN

Great discussion and something for us to think about as we navigate our own WIPs!

I admire your courage to let go of a world you worked on so hard, I had to do that too a few years ago. I started it again a year later with a blank page. using the core and bones of the story, but changing the whole story. I hope that maybe you can come back to it in a few years or just write a book that you love.

i really liked the format of this video, and your reasoning. it's important to remember the value of a story is not related to publishablility. also your audio sounds great, what kind is your mic ?

I know you said you didn’t want this video to be a sign but I 100% feel like I needed to hear this

You have a wonderful voice. Great videos.

I've definitely been there. I'm writing a multi-book series as my first writing project (ever), so as you can imagine, being that I plotted several books at once, changes I've had to make to this series have often involved removing entire books from the lineup and that's always difficult. I've also made the decision to keep books that feel like they aren't working at all and "everything is wrong about them" and that has led to two outcome. The most common, I end up fixing the book after a lot of hard work. The second, the book continues to struggle and I question my life choices. LOL BTW, I'm curious to know why it took those 70k to realize your major issues. I just watched your outlining video and it seems you outline pretty extensively. Or was this a project you discovery wrote and have only more recently turned into a massive outliner? Just curious!

This is a sad day, but if you need a departure from Project Moon in favor of something that boosts you creatively, then that's how it might as well be. Guilt comes with being a writer, especially in these early phases where you're trying to crack the code of getting something finished. There are multiple projects that have been on my plate for a decade or more just because they have SOOOO much potential, and I Frankenstein the shit out of them to take them as far as they can go. The cliché of the "mad artist" is real. The craziest ones end up in Hollywood and they create a dark abyss in which to throw their feelings. A lot of my best plays have never been produced, and it has nothing to do with my level of talent. The city I live in is a very socially awkward place where community theatre managers base their choices on loyalty to an older generation that showed up in the "good ole days" for a specific type of play. The pandemic could've been a wakeup call, but (and I know this will make me sound like a sadist) not enough of the old people died so it's back to business as usual.

The struggle is real. I have been writing my book for five years. This year I sent it to beta readers.