Why You Should Save Everything You Write
Your old articles, poems and short stories are a gold mine of content.
How long have you been writing? A few years? Maybe a lot of years? I hope you didn’t throw anything away.
I use to throw everything away. And then like a character in one of my flash fiction stories, I had an epiphany. Why not save everything and re-write it because if you keep writing you’re sure to get better and these stories will provide content and ideas that other wise you may never be able to come up with again?
For years and years I got rejection notices in the mail. This was before the Internet. I tried the glossy monthlies and the literary quarterlies of dozens of universities and lit mags that were not associated with a universities.
I think back to those days and I’m amazed at how each time I put a manuscript in the mail I was convinced that the manuscript would be accepted for publication. And every time the manuscript would come back with a rejection notice. I got so frustrated that I took to ritually tearing each rejected manuscript into small pieces and throwing it into the rubbish. It was the only way I could go on. I was burying my dead.
In my bones I knew I had good content. I just had to face the fact that I didn’t write well enough to be published. Accepting this fact, I decided that no matter how long it took I would learn to build a publishable short story the same way that a carpenter learns to build a table.
And with this decision I decided to stop destroying my rejected manuscripts. I would simply save the rejected stories and keep writing new stories.
This decision got me into the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh and won me a fellowship that gave me a generous stipend to live on for three years and paid for three years of graduate school. The manuscript that I submitted to the committee that decided which students (only seven out of hundreds) to accept into the graduate fiction writing program was from several flash fiction stories I’d been working on for 15 years.
My advice to all writers is to throw nothing away.
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Tags: advice, articles, content, Flash fiction, ideas, Publish, short stories, stories, University of Pittsburgh, write, Writing
56 Responses to “Why You Should Save Everything You Write”
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Recent Comments
- martie: very nicely explained. I knew the basis but certainly not a...
- Goodselfme: Tx for the explanation. I wrote one once, according to speci...
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August 31st, 2009 at 3:40 am
Thanks for this reminder.
August 31st, 2009 at 5:04 am
Very true Guy, your articles can still earn views and comments no matter the age, it depends on the people viewing it. Nice article Guy!
August 31st, 2009 at 5:39 am
Wow, I guess I must save the stuff I write. All of my writing work is on Triond but ever since I was 9 I’ve been writing and I got published in magazines as well but I never saved any of them and just threw them away when I moved house. Your work seems important to you and it might be quite essential in the long run. Good article.
August 31st, 2009 at 6:30 am
Thank goodness for computers! no bits of paper all over the place!! Its great to see you did not give up despite all the set backs.
Your article makes so much sense x
August 31st, 2009 at 7:16 am
That is a very sincere reminder. I guess this should apply to all writers alike. Thanks!
August 31st, 2009 at 7:33 am
Good advice Guy. I second lillyrose…thank goodness for computers. Now, instead of notebooks and scraps of paper, I have thumb drives and sd cards laying about with bits of writing lol.
I have mostly been writing lyrics for a metal band for the past couple years. Many times I write just a line or a phrase that sits unused for a long time until our guitarist comes up with a riff that seems to fit. So I save even the stupid sounding stuff even if just for a laugh.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:57 am
simplyoj, it can be strange looking over your old work because it’s a window into your mind months or maybe years ago. Your old work can bring back forgotten memories.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:03 am
Buma, the computer makes everything a lot easier for a writer. The computer can be a writer’s best friend.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:09 am
Yes, Atikin, save everything. You would be surprised how just looking over your old stuff can bring up new ideas or old ideas that can be made into new ideas. And your old work will keep you in touch with your artistic self.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:16 am
lillyrose, I like to joke that my one true talent as a writer is a blind commitment to keep writing. Everything else flows from that.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:23 am
nightcharmer, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve re-written a weak older story and turned it into a strong publishable story. Sometimes the passage of time makes all the difference.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:33 am
Natels,that’s the smart thing to do. And when you have someone else to work with the possibility of coming up with something useful more than doubles.
August 31st, 2009 at 9:10 am
So true. I keep pc files, but also hardcopy. It helps.
August 31st, 2009 at 9:13 am
I have always saved most of the stuff I have written. Thanks for sharing this article with us.
August 31st, 2009 at 9:52 am
I totally agree with you on this! I have saved everything I have wrote for 8 yr.s now!
August 31st, 2009 at 9:58 am
Guy, Thanks for your article. I am of the Vietnam Veteran Era as well. I have saved everything that I have written and your article is a good reminder to keep doing so. I am glad that we have internet now, but my writings are before I had a computer…60’s, 70’s and 80’s. So most of my writings are on paper that I have a special drawer for. I am now taking many of them out and I am going to revise and publish them on Triond. It is great to look back over the old stuff. Sometimes the revisions are so dramatic that little of the original content remains except for the original theme.
I really liked your article. Thanks for sharing it.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:07 am
Right in line with this is the advice to let everything sit. When some time has passed and you reread your work, you come at it fresh and can spot weaknesses. Also, that idea you thought was no good may just appear more attractive.
I remember a poem I was working on. I saved my scribblings and one time a friend asked to see my rough work, in the creation stages. She read through the poem and absolutely loved the idea. This energized me to finish it, send it out and it won an award. I was so glad I’d held onto those random bits and bites.
Another prose piece, I worked and worked but I just couldn’t get one paragraph to capture the “flow” I desired. I put it away and months later dug it out. Upon rereading it, I immediately got the right words for the paragraph. This piece also won an award.
It’s a good idea for most writers to always have a notebook ready so that if you are away from your computer, you can still jot down words and sentences that come to you.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:29 am
I can relate to tossing things away but I’ve found to store them electronically on a separate disk is a better way to study and develop material from.
August 31st, 2009 at 11:08 am
Great article and I totally agree with you. You even inspired me to write one of my own on this subject, too. I won’t spam you with a link but if you need somewhere free and secure to store any data just visit my page and read the relevant article (it’s obvious which one I mean).
August 31st, 2009 at 11:53 am
The moral of this article, never give up. You could even save you old stuff and put it up on Triond.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
How true! Pieces can often be re-worked. I have had items rejected and sometimes I can’t bear to look at them, but then you go back and, hey, they are brilliant after all it’s just that somebody didn’t think so
August 31st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Yes, I agree, a collection of your old writing is a great place to find inspiration for a new, or rewritten article.
August 31st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Wow. Great advice. I’ve just begun writing, and am saving my stuff… but wasn’t really sure what I would do with it. Now you’ve got me thinking. Thanks!
August 31st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Now there’s a coincidence! Yesterday I visited my 86 year old mother in law and she handed me the manuscript for a story she wrote over 20 years ago. She’d shown it to nobody (apart from me) and as she was on the verge of throwing it out I took it and I’ve actually retyped the first chapter which has been published on Triond this afternoon. Likewise, I have manuscripts that I typed up over 20 years ago which I saved onto 5″ floppy disks. I seem to remember I actually printed some of the work out onto fan-fold paper using an old dot matrix printer … but the fact is, now I’m starting to gain confidence in my writing I may well drag them out of mothballs and give them a good dust down and overhaul! So I most definitely concur Guy!!
August 31st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I so agree with you, I do the same thing but now I plan on keeping everything that I write.
Thank You
August 31st, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I agree completely. Thanks for sharing your story!
August 31st, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Marie, you are wise. It’s funny how time can make us a better writer. I look at my old stuff and I see why I couldn’t get published.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Papa Sparks, keeping my old stuff actually helped to keep me writing. As the pile of old manuscripts got higher and higher I was less and less willing to give up writing after investing more and more time and hard work in it.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:20 pm
alc, that’s great. Now you have all that content to draw on for ideas and inspiration and that content will keep growing as long as you keep writing and saving.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
teddybear55, how are you? We lived through an era that gave us plenty to write about. I’m glad we both survived and that we’re both still writing.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Athlyn, it is amazing what the passage of time can do for a writer, especially if the writer keeps writing. Some times I would strip my old stories of their good pieces and put the pieces in a new story; just like building a new car from old parts. The new stories ran pretty good.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hello, Wolffe: Since I didn’t grew up with computers I still compose with pencil and paper or pen and paper; but as you point out saving is saving. Only the technology changes.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Hi, CaSundara: I save the hard copies which many times are more like notes. That way I have the original idea and can still add and subtract depending on inspiration. This seems to fit my writing style.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Storm, exactly. I definitely have some of my old stuff on Triond. And if I ever really get stuck, I have about 20 years of old manuscripts, old print publications and old notebooks I can go to. I’m sure I’ll find something even if what I find needs to be re-written. I’ll find something.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Amanda, time can make all the difference in the world. And the thing about it is that sometimes the piece doesn’t change. We change.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Louie, years ago in the depth of my frustration over years of rejection notices, when I decided not to give up and to start saving my work instead of throwing it away, that’s when I was on my way to truly becoming a writer.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I make a point of saving what I write. You never know when you can use or re-purpose it. It is also fun to look back and see how your writing has developed.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Sophie, don’t throw it away. It will have more value as time goes on. Think of it as gold in the ground. The better you become as a writer the better you will be at digging up the gold.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Jackie118, that’s the way to do it. Now that you’re a better writer you are also a better editor. A writer has to be both.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I have the stuff…mostly…but it kinda needs organized. I’m so thankful for computers!
August 31st, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Thanks for sharing, I usually keep all the stuffs I write..
September 1st, 2009 at 1:28 am
I’ll always make it sure to keep all my articles.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:40 am
Early writings are generally good for sparking ideas for new but similar material. Early stuff usually stinks.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:23 am
Nice advice, thanks. I can’t believe your stories gets rejected everytime. I think you’re a good writer.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:17 pm
great story and a good reason to keep our work even when it stinks!
September 1st, 2009 at 2:27 pm
chelsit, of course some of the early stuff may not prove to be useful but you never know if you don’t keep it. Then some of the early stuff may prove to be very useful.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Bailey, A writer will never find that buried nugget of gold if the writer throws away all the dirt. What comes out of the dirt can sustain us.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Joshua, seeing how you developed is worth its weight in gold. It’s like being the writer and the editor at the same time.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Daisy, I know what you mean. I didn’t grow up with the computer so I keep hand written notes and outlines and the original copy.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:51 pm
giftarist, you won’t be sorry and it’ll be fun to look back on your old stuff to see how much you improved as a writer.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Hi, beth811: Sometimes when a writer looks at older work the writer will see the mistakes in the work; which means the writer won’t make the same mistakes again.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
ken, you bet early stuff usually stinks. The old stuff helps the newer stuff to smell sweeter.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:07 pm
BeatsMe, my stories don’t get rejected all the tme now but they use to and they got rejected for years.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
martie, I couldn’t have said it better myself. And when you know it stinks it’s difficult to keep it around.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:20 am
I used to keep what I wrote (in a notebook) but misplaced them. It is now easier with computers but even then it is sometimes difficult to retrieve or remember.
Good idea though.
September 12th, 2009 at 9:00 am
strovek, computers do make it easier to save stuff but since I use pen or pencil and paper for my originals I just save the hard copies.