Today I am excited to introduce you to Elizabeth Dillow, a friend I met through her successful classes, The Phone Photography Projects 1 & 2, at Big Picture Classes two years ago. We promptly found out we had loads in common, and a beautiful online friendship was born! Elizabeth is an author, photographer, memory keeper and self-proclaimed Unfinisher of many projects, so much so that she devoted this year to not only finalizing 12 projects (1 per month) in limbo, but also to looking at, thinking about, and delving into why many of us (myself included) tend to have abandoned endeavors awaiting completion, and when it’s time to abandon the venture altogether. Let’s hear what she has to say!

1. Tell me about your Unfinished project and why you decided to embark on this journey?

I like to devise some sort of yearlong project every year; I’ve completed some 365 photo projects, a year of Ten on Tuesday blog posts, a project called Take 12 for Ella Publishing Co., a writing project called Lists with Friends with my circle of longtime internet friends… last year I looked around at all the partially completed projects I have lurking everywhere and decided to focus on unfinished things in 2015—basically a way for me to commit to finishing a minimum of one thing a month this year. I think I’ve been especially struggling with this lately because we’ve moved three times in the last three years, which means a lot of my energy has been spent preparing to move, moving, recovering from moving… that doesn’t always leave a lot of creative energy left over for anything else. My husband reminds me to be a little gentler with myself on this issue, and he’s right of course—but I still wanted to address it! Because I love hearing other perspectives from creative people on just about everything, I decided to invite guests to interview each month about their approach to unfinished projects and creative processes, and that has been such a wonderful decision. Creative people are so much fun to chat with.

2. How many projects have you complete for yourself thus far? Which project’s completion thrills you the most?

It was important to me to invite people with a wide range of interests; that has included a creative business coach, some small business owners, professional photographers and designers, and a popular blogger with a completely different kind of unfinished project (planning/constructing a home from the ground up over the course of a couple of years). I’ve asked a few similar questions of everyone, but have encouraged them to share their own journeys and tips and it truly has become a wealth of wisdom to read about so many different approaches and philosophies. The thread that connects everyone is that no matter who you are, it takes effort and motivation to stay inspired to complete projects. And no one functions better when they carry guilt around about finishing something.

Unfinished Guests: 

Tiffany Han | interview
Julie Comstock | interview
Erica Hernandez | interview
Francine Clouden | interview
Angie Lucas + Wendy Smedley | interview
Elise Blaha Cripe | interview
Suzanne O’Brien | interview
Michelle Marine | interview
Amy Tan | interview
Holly Clark  | interview

I will be honest: one of the main reasons I decided I needed to introduce this project was to force myself to face one of my most troubling habits: poor photo management. I am very organized when it comes to my (truly enormous) personal photo library, but there is more than organization involved in successful photo management. There is editing, sharing, printing: the doing something with photos that matters, too. I have many photos that desperately need to be shared with people who would find value in them for so many reasons, and simply acknowledging this out loud seems like the first step to developing some new habits. It is an ongoing struggle, definitely—I didn’t expect to suddenly just find the time and sustained motivation to knock out all the backlog of photo-related projects, but I have worked on some that I might otherwise have put off for yet another year. It feels so good to finish, and I’m working on remembering that feeling to keep my momentum strong.

5. Tell us how you imagine the project progressing through the rest of the year, and if you have any plans for it once you’re “finished”.

I am plugging away to meet my minimum goal of two more projects for the year—even though I’ve exceeded my goal of 12, I’m committed to making sure I do at least one a month. This could theoretically continue for the next 15 years based on the list of unfinished things around here, but instead of beating myself up about that I’m going to review the lessons I’ve learned about letting some things go guilt-free and prioritizing the ones that will make me the most happy and satisfied to have finished. That overwhelming sense of relief is such a welcome feeling, and I know the projects I put off the most for various reasons (so big, so many decisions to make regarding finishing, so much time involved) will bring the biggest sense of relief. I know which ones those are, so I’ll keep working on them in the new year and while taking care not to bite off too many new ones. I am so easily undone by the shiny object.

6. What’s next?!!

I don’t know what my 2016 project will be yet! I usually think up something in late December and scramble to get it kicked off by January. I do know I will have one, because I am a huge believer in the power of a yearlong project.

Do you have any unfinished projects of your own too? Share with us in comments about what you’re working and your best strategies for completing the work, or why you decided to abandon the venture altogether. We’d love to hear what you think!

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Elizabeth Dillow is a photographer, writer, and designer, and maker who lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband, three daughters, and Australian Kelpie rescue dog. She has too many unfinished projects to count, but her finished work has appeared in numerous magazines and at Big Picture Classes, as well as Chalice Press, Chronicle Books, Nerdy Book Club, FamilySearch, and her own local photography + design business. She blogs at a swoop and a dart.