Should You Say Goodbye to Your Dream Book? How to Know When to Move On

Photo by @stefan_maechler at Unsplash

With every new year, there’s a sense of this being the year to make your biggest dreams come true. For food bloggers and creators, it would be the year of the cookbook or memoir. You’ve thought about it and imagined the book tours and personal fulfillment of seeing your work on a shelf. 

You just haven’t been able to focus on the book, so a new year seems like the perfect time to do it. As a determined and passionate creative, this should be easy, right?

Until you sit down to map out your book, and you realize something doesn’t feel right.

The angle seems off and out of tune with what you’re doing now. Your pages are uninspired and read like a cookie-cutter version of someone you don’t recognize.

What the heck is happening?!

Sometimes, when you’ve been holding onto an idea of a book for so long, you leave yourself no room to create. You’ve cluttered up your mind with every detail that when something doesn’t quite fit anymore, it throws everything out of whack.

It’s then that you have to release your idea of what you thought your dream book was and make room for what it could be.

So, should you say goodbye to your “dream” book? Here are some questions to ask yourself and how to know when to move on.

Is This the Cookbook or Food Memoir You Want to Write or the One You Feel You Should Write?

We all have inspiration hit us, and when it’s an idea, that’s taken on a life of its own — being asked about it every time you’re at a party or family gathering — it can feel like a duty instead of a dream. Suddenly, it’s how people identify you, and they’ve invested so much into your idea that to not do it would be a disappointment.

Just because you’ve spent time, energy and possibly money on your cookbook or food memoir, doesn’t mean that you can’t walk away from it. The sunk cost fallacy would have you believe you have to continue on with your project, even if you know you should walk away. 

If your cookbook or food memoir has lost its initial spark, it may be time to put the idea on the shelf for a minute. Sometimes, you need to step away from it to see if it’s what you really want. If it feels like it’s the book everyone else wants from you, but you’re not interested in creating it yourself, it may be time to cut your losses.

Are You Trying to Write Like Your Food Heroes and Failing Miserably?

It’s beautiful to have heroes. It’s even harder to become them. 

You can be captivated by David Lebovitz, Joanne Lee Molinaro and Toni Tipton-Martin all day long. But when you sit down to write, you can only be you. Anything else will only be a massive failure. 

The brilliant thing about this is that your heroes could never be you. With your unique insights and point of view, there can only be one person to tell your story. You should read as much as possible to grow your craft, but don’t let it get in the way of doing the work.

How do you know if you’re too obsessed with your food idols?

Is your vision aligned with the work you’re doing now? Do you feel empowered and excited to put your words on the page? Does your work feel like you or a version of yourself you believe people will like better? If not, it may be time to kick your heroes to the curb and figure out the story you’re meant to tell. 

Do You Keep Making Excuses About Why You’re Not Writing?

All the motivational Post-Its and resolutions to make this the year of the book can’t actually make you wake up at 5am and get it done. There will always be reasons you can’t write, but when it’s important enough, when the fire ignites with a stream of habits, that’s the best time to write your cookbook or memoir.

If you’re in the middle of a career change or starting a family, maybe this shouldn’t be your top priority. Keep moving your personal writing deadlines every week because you just can’t get anything down on the page?

It’s time to reevaluate. You’re an adult, and you can own if now is just not the right time to work on your book. There’s no shame in stepping away because you have other things happening in your life. 

What feels better — to choose to not concentrate on this project right now or to stress yourself out every week when you don’t meet your goal? 

Trust If It’s Meant to Be, You Can Always Come Back to It

Oh, yes. You read that cheesy subheading right. 

Moving on isn’t about forgetting. It’s about letting go. 

If holding onto an idea of your cookbook or food memoir isn’t getting you any closer to your goals, move on. You can put that project in a filing cabinet or a special place in your heart, and if the time is right down the road, pull it out and dive in. 

Only you know what’s right for you now. And if you need help along the way, you can grab a spot on my coaching waitlist to see how we can work together and how I can best support you. 

Let this be the year where you only do exactly what you want.