I thought I'd open a discussion on worklist ettiquette...
These quotes from Zephyr's HMS Hermes thread:
The hell with 'worklists' -- I doubt he'd have even gotten around to it in the first place! At their best they're just fanciful wishlists and at their worst they choke people from wanting to do ships they like because "it's number 109 on some dude's worklist".
Send him a PM about it and keep working. I hope you guys understand that if I want to draw a ship, I'm going to draw it regardless of who "owns" it. It's happened to me enough times that I don't care to do it in reverse!
I have to Echo Coloseum's words here. Worklists are nice, but they're a statement of intent, and not an iron-clad claim. It's POLITE to follow them, but if someone has a ship on his list that you're dying to do (or, in your case, have accidentally started) just contact him/her, and work things out. Unless the other guy was already far along with the same ship, there's no reason to abandon yours.
Of course it can also be a nice change to work together on a ship.
I fully second Colo and Miho here. That's why I have stated even in my signature that I'm always willing to discuss if I've got something on my list. And, as a matter of fact, I can thank both of them for my newly acquired status, since they were generous enough to allow me to rework some of their old works! So, that's the benefit of sharing and cooperation!
...I won't clutter the topic by any comments on worklists, maybe this can be discussed eleswhere?