Inspiration to Revisit Unfinished Stories

Good evening! How many unfinished writing pieces are pending in your file cabinet? Would you not agree that each piece you write teaches you something about yourself? Do you remember how much courage it took just to begin a story — you did it! Then you found yourself in the middle of your story, which, surely, felt gratifying….unfortunately, something kept you from moving forward and granted you permission to shelf your story. Today, I encourage you to pull any unfinished piece from your file cabinet to revisit this week. As a writer, you enjoy reading, right?  Perhaps you also enjoy talking about the books you read — let’s imagine the that you attended your book discussion club and learned something new from one of the members about the very book that you had just read to prepare for the discussion and thought you knew everything about the book from cover-to-cover. You find yourself stumped when one of the members shared a powerful point from the book,  which you, somehow, missed during your reading — this moves you to present a question to the group, “I don’t remember reading that part – are we talking about the same book?” The members respond in unison, “Yes, it is…turn to page 132.” Upon arriving at the printed proof you missed, you begin to question yourself, “I wonder what else I missed in this book?” When you return home, you re-read the book with a fresh lens and find all the hidden treasures that were revealed at your book club’s discussion. Allow yourself to experience this same scenario with your unfinished pages. Revisit your words — see them through a set of refreshed lens and observe how your own retired words can help you realize what stopped you from finishing and motivate you to cross the finish line with your polished story.  Do yourself a favor – just try it! The worst that can happen is that your story returns to the unfinished folder in your file cabinet. I am hopeful that you will, instead, be inspired to complete many of your stories.