As I sat here writing tonight and then went searching for some graphics, I came across an interesting one that had this on it: When To Shelve the Book You’re Writing. Well, that little bit piqued my interest so I click on the graphic and it took me to this blog post: samanthaboyette.com/when-to-shelve-the-book-youre-writing. What this woman had to say was quite interesting.

I know in the book I’ve been writing, or trying to write, every once in a while I think maybe I should move onto a new book for a little while, but then never do. I think of the one I writing now as my teaching took. I’ve learned a lot with it and as time goes by I find out more with how to make it better. As a result, I realized I needed to completely revamp my in-depth outline (yes, I’m a die-hard plotter), and then start from scratch at the beginning as so much had changed. From how the main character and the romantic interest knew each other to adding a few subplots that help move the story along better. (The fact I’m talking main character, romantic interest and subplots tells me how far I’ve actually come because two year ago I would’ve been like What?!?! My how far I’ve come.)

My hope is that I never come to a point in a book where I feel that it’s simply time to shelve it, but I have a feeling that it happens at some point for every writing. Just like a quarterback will at some point throw an interception. It happens. And that’s okay. Hopefully we learn from what didn’t work for us and move on to something else that will hopefully be fantastic.