Do other editors get a large percentage of writers who start with a lot of enthusiasm but then disappear before the project is done? I'd say almost two out of every three writers who contact me gush over how happy they are with the editing, but then they don't complete the project and I never hear from them or see any evidence of their presence on the site.
In a couple of cases, it was obvious that the writer didn't want to do the heavy lifting required to bring the piece up to an acceptable standard, but those relationships only lasted for a single email exchange and didn't surprise me. (I am very encouraging in my feedback, by the way, always looking to catch them doing something right, not subjecting them to some kind of literary drill instructor persona.)
I'm kind of tempted to not take on any projects that aren't already complete from beginning to end.
In a couple of cases, it was obvious that the writer didn't want to do the heavy lifting required to bring the piece up to an acceptable standard, but those relationships only lasted for a single email exchange and didn't surprise me. (I am very encouraging in my feedback, by the way, always looking to catch them doing something right, not subjecting them to some kind of literary drill instructor persona.)
I'm kind of tempted to not take on any projects that aren't already complete from beginning to end.