I have three finished novels that haven’t seen the light of day. Why? Because the best kept secret about my blog is that it’s really here to sell my books, and that wasn’t working. So I wonder… do I bother?
I’m not trying to get sympathy; I’m just telling the truth. Three stories. The first one (sci-fi mystery novel) has been reviewed and is ready to go under the second edit, but it’s hard to get the “give-a-damn” to actually do it. So it sits in the electronic desk drawer.
The second one (sci-fi merchant marine) will probably never see the light of day because I realized only after I finished writing it that I forgot to write a plot. Whoops. I got so focused on the settings and the characters that I only realized 35 thousand words in that I didn’t have anything for the characters to do.
The third one is (historical technothriller) one that I’m working with a partner with. Unfortunately, it’s going through the first edit now, and my editor pointed out… gee, there’s not a lot to compel the reader to care about the secret that our heroes are chasing. Whoops. Thankfully, I care a little bit more, since I’m working with someone who cares, but it does mean I have to rewrite a significant part of the story… which I’m not looking forward to. Great.
It’s a strange phenomenon; everyone talks about writer’s block, including myself, but maybe this is similar – because it IS writing, just re-writing the same ground. I was hoping that the longer I stepped away from it, the more likely I would be to finish it. However, for it to be “published,” get a copy, and then have it sit on my actual bookshelf with no one to read it is… kinda silly to me.
Oh well, woe is me. I should get off my electronic soapbox and get back to work. Thanks for reading.
Albigensia Press 
I can relate. I have a book that’s been sitting in a briefcase for about 40 years. It’s absolute rubbish, that’s why it’s still there. However, the concept is good, the execution is poor 😊
You know (and I’ve mentioned this in the past), the irony here is we’ve both fallen into the same trap; building the brand without actually getting the product to market, LOL. That, in turn, makes it all the more ironic that you walked away from your blog for the longest. You grew an audience bigger than mine while I was still blogging. 😛
The real solution is finding balance between both tasks though 😉