1. You realize you haven’t been making the time to work on it because you really don’t want to anymore.
2. You’re working on something else you feel is more worth your time.
3. You feel overwhelmed by all the things you want to work on, but this isn’t one of them.
4. You’ve actually forgotten about it a few times. Oops.
5. You’ve been working on it so long that you’ve almost outgrown it.
6. Or you’ve just moved on.
7. You dread “having” to work on it.
8. The story no longer excites you — to the point you’re just writing it for the sake of saying you’ve written it.
9. You can see its flaws very clearly, but have no desire to fix them.
10. When you try to reread parts of it, you realize you don’t even enjoy doing that.
11. Thinking about letting it go gives you a sense of peace.
12. You’re excited for what’s next more than you’re sad about what’s now behind you.
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.
Meg Dowell Writes 
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