Like a lot of creatives, I tend to start more projects than I finish.
At this point, I have enough abandoned projects to fill a small cemetery. Maybe a large one. There are entire neighborhoods in my creative graveyard.
Unfinished essays. Half edited photo shoots. Screenplays that made it to page thirty seven before wandering off into the wilderness. Book ideas. Business ideas. Art projects. Websites. Collections. Experiments.
For at least a little while, each one felt like the thing.
You might know the feeling. The spark arrives, and suddenly you’re convinced you’ve stumbled onto your next great obsession. You spend days, weeks, and sometimes months consumed by it. You tell your friends about it. You buy supplies for it. You create folders for it. You make ambitious plans for it.
Then, almost as suddenly as it appeared, the spark fades.
Maybe I ran out of interest.
Maybe I ran out of steam.
Maybe I reached the point where the work stopped being play and started feeling like work.
Or maybe another shiny idea wandered by and stole my attention.
Whatever the reason, the project eventually joined the ever growing graveyard.
For years, I viewed these unfinished efforts as evidence of my personal and professional failures. Disciplined people finished things. Successful people finished things. “Real” artists finished things.
The older I get, however, the more I’ve started seeing things differently.
Every unfinished project taught me something.
The abandoned screenplay taught me how to write dialogue.
The half completed photo series taught me what kinds of images actually excite me.
The forgotten essays helped me find my voice.
Even the spectacular failures served a purpose. Sometimes the lesson was simply, “You don’t enjoy doing this nearly as much as you thought you would.”
That’s valuable information.
Not every creative effort is meant to become a finished product. Some projects exist to teach us a skill, reveal an interest, or occupy our attention during a particular season of life.
Their purpose isn’t always completion. Sometimes their purpose is growth.
That realization doesn’t mean I’ve stopped wishing I finished more things. There are projects in that graveyard I’d love to resurrect. Ideas that deserved a little more patience. Stories that might have become something meaningful if I’d stuck with them a bit longer.
Still, I no longer view the graveyard with shame.
Instead, I see it as an archaeological record of my curiosity.
Every unfinished project represents a moment when I got excited enough to try something. A moment when I followed an idea instead of ignoring it. A moment when I was willing to experiment without knowing whether the effort would lead anywhere.
Not all of those journeys reached their intended destination, but every one of them took me somewhere.
And who knows? Maybe some of those unfinished projects aren’t dead after all.
Maybe they’re just waiting patiently for me to wander back someday, shovel in hand, ready to do a little creative grave robbing.
Keep calm and carry on!
Clint 🌈✌️
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Clint, I always enjoy the "spin" you put on things. I think the nature of creative people is this graveyard to which you refer. And yes, the left behind projects are not failures. As I continued reading, I had an interesting idea. I use the concept in several unexpected areas. I asked myself, "Does the graveyard have a gift shop." Then I thought wouldn't it be wonderful to share these projects and label them "works in progress" to match that most of us creatives are "works in progress". I can imagine a new Substack called "Clint Collide's Conundrums" or "Clint Collide's Quits". You could share part of a shelved project, offer more informaton to PAID subscribers, and if the project ever did get completed have by-line credit? Fondly, Michael
good morning Clint and fellow colliders, I can totally relate. I like the feeling of starting something new, and I feel accomplished when I complete a project, the wait between the start and completion can be something else. LOL. By the way, the New York Times is reporting that David Hockney died. I love his work, I appreciate his perspective. The Best to all, Don