The Stories Writers Tell Themselves
Aug 13, 2026 · 6 min · 7 segments
**Episode 5 - I never finish anything** Writers spend a lot of time making up stories and not all of them end up in our books. *The Stories Writers Tell Themselves* is a free limited audio series…
Katherine ColletteHostMaybe the version in your head sounds like this: I start projects, but I don't ever complete them, or I lose momentum halfway through, or the harshest version of all, I'm lazy, undisciplined, and just not cut out for this.
Most of the time it's a misdiagnosis because when you look closely at what's happening in a stalled project, the issue is rarely a fixed character flaw.
It's a practical problem, and you are treating it like a personality flaw.
Now, there are a few common forces that tend to create the I never finish anything pattern.
Halfway through writing a novel or memoir, you begin to see the gap between the book you imagined when you started and the messy, somewhat underwhelming reality of your first draft.
Instead of adjusting expectations and recognizing that early drafts are supposed to be rough, your brain jumps to a very harsh conclusion.
This isn't working, the idea is flawed, and there's absolutely no point in continuing.
What's happening here is that you've reached the stage where the initial momentum of an idea has run out, and you have to start figuring things out.
The story doesn't arrive as easily, and you have to make choices about structure and about characters and about what actually belongs in the book.
This stage can feel like the project is breaking down, when in reality it's when the real work of writing begins.
Maybe the version in your head sounds like this: I start projects, but I don't ever complete them, or I lose momentum halfway through, or the harshest version of all, I'm lazy, undisciplined, and just not cut out for this.
Most of the time it's a misdiagnosis because when you look closely at what's happening in a stalled project, the issue is rarely a fixed character flaw.
It's a practical problem, and you are treating it like a personality flaw.
Now, there are a few common forces that tend to create the I never finish anything pattern.
Halfway through writing a novel or memoir, you begin to see the gap between the book you imagined when you started and the messy, somewhat underwhelming reality of your first draft.
Instead of adjusting expectations and recognizing that early drafts are supposed to be rough, your brain jumps to a very harsh conclusion.
This isn't working, the idea is flawed, and there's absolutely no point in continuing.
What's happening here is that you've reached the stage where the initial momentum of an idea has run out, and you have to start figuring things out.
The story doesn't arrive as easily, and you have to make choices about structure and about characters and about what actually belongs in the book.
This stage can feel like the project is breaking down, when in reality it's when the real work of writing begins.
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