How do you restart a stalled creative project when you’ve lost momentum on a book you once believed in?

I’m asking for myself. My project had a big stall on an anthlogy when I delgated the project because I was working on my own book. The oldest essay in my Voices on the Gift of Aging folder arrived in early 2024. The folder is still there. So are the people who wrote the essays.

You know how this goes. You put your heart into something. You tell people. Some of them say yes and send you their work, and the thing starts to look like a book. Then it stalls. Then it sits. Neglect does what neglect does.

I’m the editor of this anthology in the Voices series from Jack Walker Press. The associate editor I hired kept asking for more time, until more time stopped being an answer. So I took the project back, and I’m doing it while I get ready to launch my own memoir, The Alchemy of Sass, on March 2.

Many not-quite-dead projects can be finished. There’s a test for whether yours should be. I’ll get to it, after the parts that are more fun.

Set the guilt down first

Author coach Josh Bernoff says about one in five of the ahttps://jackwalkerpress.com/xyz-anthologies/uthors he works with stall, sometimes for months, and the guilt makes it worse. His first step is to set the guilt aside and look at the project the way you’d look at a stranger’s. I tried it. The project stalled because time ran out.

Remember why you started

Ask what pulled you in. Your answer might have changed. Mine hasn’t. I think the people who wrote these essays have something to say about getting older, and readers should get to hear it. I also told them I’d do it.

Cut the job into pieces and put dates on them

A writer at Writer’s Digest found “work on book” too vague to act on. She got moving when she traded it for small jobs she could finish in a day or two. Mine look like this: the essays are being edited now, contracts go out over the next few weeks, and the book comes out next summer, after The Alchemy of Sass. Every piece has a date.

Tell the people who are waiting

Bernoff’s last step is to update everyone involved. I’m writing to contributors, and I’m thanking the ones who stayed.

Ask for help

I’ve brought on a virtual assistant. The project no longer depends only on the hours I have left over, which are few right now.

How to start writing again when you’ve lost momentum

Start smaller than seems worth it. Hemingway’s habit, passed down by writing teachers, was to stop for the day while he still knew what came next, so tomorrow’s restart was easy. The Text and Academic Authors Association suggests ten to fifteen minutes a day when you’re coming back from a lull. Ten minutes is not impressive. That’s the point.

Teresa Amabile studied the daily diaries of office workers and found that progress on meaningful work, even small progress, mattered most to how their days felt. They weren’t writers. Small wins are still cheap to collect.

Be kind to yourself, too. Researcher Fuschia Sirois found that people who procrastinate tend to be lower in self-compassion and higher in stress. The study shows a link, not a cause. Still, beating yourself up is a poor starting routine.

When it’s time to put a project down

Here is the test. Reread your work. Notice what your body does. If you feel pulled in, keep going. If you feel relief at the thought of stopping, or the dread stays after an honest try, you may have your answer.

Putting a project down doesn’t mean deleting it. Make a folder. Write a short dated note on where you stopped and what you learned. Writers interviewed by The Writer say it’s hard to know whether you quit too early, and the Text and Academic Authors Association advises that when dread stays, you can set the project aside with notes and let it go without guilt.

Sometimes the folder opens again. As The Writer tells it, Hilary Mantel set a novel aside on an agent’s advice. She wrote an essay about it, the essay drew interest, and the novel was published. Timing had a lot to do with it. I’ve written about her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, as a mentor text for writers.

Common questions about A Stalled Project

Why did my project stall?

Often because life crowded it out, not because the idea failed. The Text and Academic Authors Association describes four kinds of stall, and each calls for a different fix.

A lull is a loss of momentum after time away. You still want to return, so a small daily habit, even ten to fifteen minutes, is usually enough.

Resistance is when you sit down to return and keep finding reasons not to. The project isn’t the problem. Other demands are winning. Put your writing sessions on the calendar and ask someone to hold you accountable.

A structural stall means the project feels wrong in its content, organization, or proportions. You may need to rethink what it is, and you can move pieces that don’t fit into other places, such as an article or a talk.

Dread is when the thought of the project brings avoidance or even hostility. If you’ve honestly tried the steps above and the feeling stays, set the project aside with notes and let it go without guilt.

How can I get out of a creative slump?

Start smaller than feels useful. Ten minutes. One task.

When should I give up on a project?

Reread it and see whether you’re pulled back in. If you feel only relief at the thought of stopping, it may be time. Keep the files either way, with a dated note on where you stopped. Minds change. Calendars change.

Come watch this one come back to life

The essays are being edited now, and Voices on the Gift of Aging is set for next summer. If you want to watch it happen, and have company while you restart a project of your own, join us in LitFriends, our literary community and newsletter.

What’s the oldest file in your folder?

Amy Lou Jenkins is the author of Every Natural Fact and the memoir The Alchemy of Sass. She has taught nonfiction writing for more than twenty years.