Writing Drafts – Keep or Abandon?
I’m fed up! Being a writer, there will be lots of times when I felt like I was going to write about a particular topic. You start writing the title and type in a few sentences or brainstorm some pointers. But you never finished it because of lack of time or lost interest in the topic totally. So what do you do with your writing drafts?
I write articles and reviews. I have so many drafts I started but never finished them. Some of them are in my cellphone while others in my netbook. I’m torn when faced with these writing drafts. They may contain valuable starts or pointers in them, and I feel bad letting go of some of them. But very often, after some time lapse, I’m no longer interested in those topics anymore. My brain is that dynamic! My interests are often short-lived, unless it is my passion. I move on to other interesting stuff as time goes by. So, should I keep the writing drafts and continue them later or abandon them altogether?
Why Keep?
Let’s count how many writing drafts I have currently. I just calculated and I have 10 in my cellphone and 14 in my netbook, totalling 24 drafts. If I could really complete all of them, that is 24 new articles to be submitted to my online writing sites. And that would mean I would have 210 articles to my name. That would be one reason I’d keep them all.
I have spent some time thinking about or coming up with ideas for the writing drafts. I found one which is almost complete except for a final conclusion and some calculation matters. This is one of the most valuable one I have among my writing drafts. Others have at least a working title or even three main points to be elaborated. Some writers feel that these writing drafts can be useful when you are suffering from a dearth of ideas or writer’s block. I don’t know if they will work for me though.
Why Abandon?
But there are many times when I feel like abandoning all my writing drafts, delete them and put them in the Recycle Bin. It eliminates the clutter on my desktop and it would be give fresh perspective. I always like to have everything uncluttered. It gives more room for ideas and inspiration.
Another reason why I would abandon these writing drafts would be because of the lack of interest in the said topics. Sometimes I have certain topics in mind and being afraid I would forget about them, I rush to type the title onto the computer or my cellphone. Depending on the time at hand, I would brainstorm for ideas. I continue to jot them down. But I may not have enough time to complete them later on. After a considerable time lapsed, I lost interest in the topic altogether, at least for the moment.
Final Say
Alright, this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to spend all of today and tomorrow to go through my writing drafts. I will spend some time on each of them to see if I’d be able to continue with them. If I find that I can’t complete them or if I have totally lost interest in the topic, I shall abandon them altogether. I think it is fair to give these writing drafts a chance. I may get something out of them afterall. Let’s just see how many complete articles I can come up with.
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July 26th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I too am stuck sometimes on a draft and understand your thoughts completely. But I would think that you might want to save them. For later on in life, when you have more time. Maybe that subject will mean more to you and then you will have more to say about it. Thanks for sharing