Writing Blog

20211230 On Finishing

December 30, 2021, 9:45am

I write a lot. Since I started this blog, I’ve completed 2 poems, a short story and got into a long story.

I have also got down three lines of another poem, a two-line idea for a story, the opening paragraph of a story, 5 pages of a long story, 2 pages of a short story, all of which now sit in the folder on my computer marked ‘Unfinished’ or on a page in my current notebook.

And, as a writer, I ask: So what?

Not everything is going to flow straight away. Some of these might have a new life later on, some might be melded into another story, and some might sit there for a long time. The oldest I have in my collection dates back to 1988; I just haven’t been able to use it. But in the book I had published in 2019, there was a passage that was adapted from a single paragraph I wrote in 1992 (I date everything; don’t @ me) that just added a nice element of character building.

So, while I do not finish a reasonable amount, nothing is ever discarded. You never know what is going to help or find a home later on, further down the track.

So, if anybody is reading this, can I suggest something? Don't throw anything away.No matter how "bad" you might think it is, keep it. You never know...