Sorry, my comment was ambiguous - I am not writing a paper on this subject but am struggling with finishing old projects on other topics, while being seduced by novelty. Writing up my thoughts on old/new projects would make the problem worse as this is well outside the field I need to make progress in to keep a desk over my head.
a suggestion: If you consider the salience of completion more strongly, you might be able to motivate yourself to complete a half-done project sooner than a zero-done project.
Obviously the draw of the new-shiny project is significant and likely to be more interesting because it is novel. The finishing reward is further away though.
Consider: Making a list of what is left to do on this existing project. You might be suffering from a difficulty in knowing what to do next (which masks itself in akrasia and new shiny project feelings). At some point after ...
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