Nothing is wasted by Annmarie Miles
I have a folder full of story starts, sentences I like the sound of, and ideas I've picked up here, there and everywhere. I rarely if ever delete anything I type. I've a host of 'draft' blog posts. Just because I couldn't finish something, it doesn't mean the beginning won't come in useful some day. My current major WIP, one I've been working on for two and a half years, has a separate document with all the sentences and paras I've cut out. I'm pretty sure I'll find a use for them someday, if not right back in the manuscript they came from.
I'm grateful this was a habit I was taught early on in my writing life. I was encouraged to think of every unused sentence as potential raw material for the next project. I often read though my folder of 'stuff' and find an old gem that works in something new. In fact, just the other day, I found a notebook with pages of thoughts and even a couple of first draft stories, all ready to be transferred to my 'Short WIPs' folder. It was like finding treasure that I'd buried and forgotten about.
photo credit: byzantiumbooks RECYCLE via photopin (license)
I used to be in a writing group where one of the members only ever wrote on her iphone. If she wasn't happy with what she'd written, she would delete it. Week after week she would leave the meeting having no more words than when she'd arrived. I had pages of stuff. Raw, badly written, atrocious grammar, illegible writing - but I had words. Something to work on and polish. I could not get my friend to stop deleting the writing she hated. I know she was discouraged by her 'bad' writing, but I'm sure she was more downhearted at leaving the meetings empty handed. I certainly would have been.
I know many of us are hoarders of words. Sentences scribbled in the middle of the night, ideas captured on our phones, a notebook in every corner of our lives. I'm struck by the command of Jesus in John 6, after the feeding of the 5000. When everyone had eaten their fill, Jesus said, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." What would have otherwise been considered the scraps, were worth keeping. There was a miracle of provision even in the 'left overs.'
Who knows what potential our scribbled scraps might have. Why not dig out some old left over words and ask God to do something miraculous with them. May they feed the souls of many who read them.
Annmarie Miles is from Dublin, Ireland.
She lives with her husband Richard who is a pastor in the Eastern Valley of Gwent, in South Wales. She writes short stories, magazine articles, devotional pieces for Christian radio, and blogs about her faith at www.auntyamo.com Her first collection of short stories published in 2013, is called 'The Long & The Short of it'. Her second collection, 'A Sense of the Sea and other stories,' was published in 2018 and in December 2019 she published her first novel, Gorse Lodge. She is currently editing a non-fiction book about being an overweight Christian called, 'Have mercy on me O Lord, a slimmer.'
Who knows what potential our scribbled scraps might have. Why not dig out some old left over words and ask God to do something miraculous with them. May they feed the souls of many who read them.
She lives with her husband Richard who is a pastor in the Eastern Valley of Gwent, in South Wales. She writes short stories, magazine articles, devotional pieces for Christian radio, and blogs about her faith at www.auntyamo.com Her first collection of short stories published in 2013, is called 'The Long & The Short of it'. Her second collection, 'A Sense of the Sea and other stories,' was published in 2018 and in December 2019 she published her first novel, Gorse Lodge. She is currently editing a non-fiction book about being an overweight Christian called, 'Have mercy on me O Lord, a slimmer.'
photo credit: byzantiumbooks RECYCLE via photopin (license)
This is right up my street! I completely agree. Raw material marinates away quietly, like veg peelings and eggshells in the compost bin. You never know when something will come in handy. I always say you can edit 2 pages of what you think is rubbish, but you can't edit an empty screen.
ReplyDeleteGlad I read this! I have loads of notes/scraps/books all over the place and was considering dumping through sheer guilt of not doing anything with them. thanks Annmarie xx
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Nothing is wasted, even if it's work from 20 years back that you look at and think, 'What was I ON using strings of adjectives like that?!' I'm often re-using material I've written in our local ACW group meetings when we write for 20 minutes/30 minutes on a particular topic or in a specific genre. That's probably because I seem to respond well to an imposed time limit and produce something worthwhile, whereas given all the time in the world I'll write a lazy sentence or two then head for the fridge.
ReplyDeleteSo true. I love that our words can come back to us when we think they are spent and empty. Great post Annmarie.
ReplyDeleteThanks AnnMarie. My problem is how to file ......? 'Write a lazy sentence or two then head for the fridge' is perfect, Fran. How did you know?
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