Unfinished

On my desktop sits a folder titled “Writing.” It contains outlines, ideas, drafts, stories, and essays. The vast majority of these text documents are unfinished. Projects begun in earnest that have since sat idly by for years (in some cases, over 10 at this point).

To be sure, many of these projects are little more than unfinished sketches in a notebook. Not everything I write need be groundbreaking, nor should I be married to finishing every project.

Of the works in this folder, two stand out as finished. A fantasy novel and a mystery novel, written between 2010 and 2012. While neither is of some grand quality, and I’d very much like to revise them someday, they stand out simply because I finished them. Though their stories are admittedly odd (and often convoluted), I stand by them as some of my biggest accomplishments prior to entering college. Few people have read them. I have earned no money from them. Yet, they hovered in the back of my mind these last 9 years as a reminder that I can finish projects if I put my mind to it.

In the years that have followed, I’ve accomplished other things. I’ve written more important works through ministry and the completion of my graduate degree. For me, several dreams have come true. I attribute these events first and foremost to God, but I do think that he used this folder of unfinished work on my desktop to spur me on these last few years.

I’ve been telling myself since I finished those novels in 2012 that I would return to that folder and again make writing part of my life. I see now, in meta sort of way that it has never stopped being part of my life. However, I’m ready to finish projects, write new things, and share them with others. Even if few people read what I write, I’ve always found writing to be the best tool for sorting out my thoughts. So if for nobody else, I will write.

The folder on my desktop and myself are full of unfinished thoughts. I’m not sure whether the ratio will ever be satisfying. Yet, in my experience, that which we finish propels us toward the greater. It is time to write to finish.