I’m sure we can all relate. You see that awesome review on Goodreads or a blog. Bookish intuitions aquiver, you know it’s a book you need to read right now. But then you see a #1 by the title, and with a sinking heart you realize that this is not a standalone, but the first of a series, which means commitment—commitment which, let’s get real, many of us don’t follow through on or push off for literally years.

Friends, I am here to say that my name is Katie, and I have a problem: I start series and never finish them, despite the very best intentions. Case in point, last year I read Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, which I adored and is the first in a series. I knew the second book was coming out in 2019, so to tide me over until release day, I picked up 13 Little Blue Envelopes, also by Maureen Johnson. Once I’d devoured that, did I finish the Blue Envelope series like a responsible human? Of course not—instead I decided it was much more important for me to start another series by Maureen Johnson. So if you’re keeping score, that’s three series I started by Maureen Johnson within a span of approximately six months, and I am only now trying to rectify this mess.

This has to stop. It stresses me out to look at my TBR shelf, knowing that there are sequels up there that I have been pushing off for years, the details of the first in the series fading fast from my memory. So I’ve decided to institute a personal rule, which I invite anyone else suffering from this problem to adopt. I’m calling it Two Series Out, One Series In, or in abbreviated form, #TSOOSI. Slightly inane-sounding, I know, but that’s what we’re going with. Essentially, I’m making sure to finish or get up to date on two series before I can start another series. Hopefully this will whittle away at the problem until my TBR is cured of unfinished-series-itis.

Here are the series I can think of off the top of my head that I need to finish or get up to date on; I am sure there are more than this, though. Revealing all these is… a little embarrassing, I’ll be honest.

Right now I’m in the middle of The Stone’s Heart, which is the sequel to The Queen’s Wing (and there is no prospective third book listed on Goodreads) and I’ve just gotten up-to-date on the Truly Devious series, so after I’m done with The Stone’s Heart I can introduce another series—I’m thinking The Call by Peadar O’Guilin. I know getting “up to date” doesn’t exactly solve the problem, but it’s definitely better than nothing, so that’s what I’m going with for right now.

What do you think about TSOOSI? Have you tried something similar to wrangle a stress-inducing TBR? I’d love to hear how you balance the excitement of starting new series with the need to finish series, so drop a comment down below!