Weeding Out Old Writing

There's been this file carton on a small stool in front of our back bedroom window for years. It's full of spiral bound notebooks all standing on end in which I have written partial stories in the past. These date back to when Kelly was in high school and college.

The box has gotten wet a few times when we've forgotten to shut the window when it's rained. The cats have jumped up onto it and sat on it to look out the window. They've slept on it also so the cover sags, and now the whole box is slightly lopsided.

Today was the day to tackle the box and the notebooks within. A lot of what's in the notebooks is what I call junk writing. Junk writing is when I have some characters but they aren't fully developed and I haven't quite worked out their back stories and the novel/story they're going to be in.

I write a scene or a few scenes and see how it goes, what develops. If it isn't what I want I stop and start again. I have literally written acres of partials and consigned them to file boxes and file cabinets. Now I am weeding them out and they are destined for the recycle bin.

Does it hurt to expend all that creative effort and then one day relegate it to the discard pile, the recycle bin? Yes. But all these partials stories have helped me to hone my skills and learn patience. I suppose I can consider them writing lessons and writing development projects. Some of them I have read and cringed, glad that no one will ever see them!

I can also see how I've grown as a writer. I can hear the voice I currently have emerging from these older beginnings.

It's a nostalgic little journey back to when I was not sure I had the ability to write a whole novel. I have since discovered that I do have that ability!

The other thing I am discovering is that I waited far too long to begin writing on the computer. It was intimidating to me when John first got a computer and told me I could write stories on it. I was leery of it because I was used to having the printed page in the notebook, or fresh from the typewriter. I didn't trust technology. I was afraid of losing all my work. I blazed through three or four typewriters before finally getting sick of all the backspacing corrections and giving the computer Word program a whirl.

Then, of course, I was kicking myself pretty hard for being so stubborn and scared. I used to hog the main computer, then John bought me a Dell laptop. I wrote on it, but this was years ago and it was rather pokey. Then he gifted me the Dell Netbook I named Mahue. Mahue and I were meant to be. He was the perfect size for my hands. He was small and easy to pack for travel. I had him for five years and typed the letters right off the keys! Mahue was a workhorse, but even workhorses grow weary over time. I had to retire him. Now I work on a bright blue HP Stream that John stripped down for me to make room for novels and stories. Every now and then I have to purge files onto a USB to make room for new stuff, and the letter A is already half gone, but the other letters are holding up well.

Taking a brief respite from writing- going back to weeding through these old partials and decluttering a bit. (But that doesn't mean there aren't characters clamoring in my head to tell their stories...there are. I guess only writers can live in society and say "Oh, the voices in my head are driving me crazy!" and not be put on medication for it!!