Being UNFINISHED

When I first started submitting UNFINISHED to agents and publishers, I got no response. Absolute crickets.

I had submitted other works before, and had received some response: a request for more pages, a few requests for a full manuscript.  

This time, the silence was deafening. It struck me as odd because this book was definitely better than the previous book I sought to publish.

Now, I knew that submitting works that were not complete was breaking a cardinal rule of the publishing industry. My novel was complete. It just happened to be that the title was UNFINISHED.

I started to wonder if maybe just seeing the word “unfinished” in the subject line of an email was turning off potential agents and publishers. 

After much deliberation and consultation, I reluctantly changed the title to MAKING ENDS MEET.

It worked. As soon as I changed the title, I started getting responses and requests.

But the first question I asked my publisher after I signed my contract was, “Can I change the title back?”

It was important to me that the title be UNFINISHED because I, myself, am unfinished.

I love the idea of being unfinished.

I love that every mistake I make is an opportunity to learn and grow and change and improve.

I love that I’m 46 years old and just now starting to realize some of the dreams I had when I was younger.

I make a hundred tiny mistakes a day because sometimes the only way to fix something is to find out what doesn’t work.

I like getting better at things I used to be terrible at.

I can do things now 20 year old me never would have attempted because of silly fears or insecurities.

Sure my knees hurt.

Sometimes I’m more tired than I was when I was twenty. Okay, I’m always more tired than I was when I was twenty.

But I still love learning more about myself because once you’re “finished”…your best days are behind you.

I hope I’m always unfinished. I hope to spend the rest of my life working on myself. Forever learning. Forever growing. Forever changing.