Comments on: Your Writing: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

By: Hemant Sonawane

Hemant Sonawane — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:11:50 +0000

I feel when Recovery becomes failure it is Discovery. the cycle continues.
We may identifiy few 50 ,100, but not thousands from identifying our own Head Hairs because the limit is the Time similarly some of the identified files/info will be lost as you identify more of the old ones. My explanation stands for a limit to Recycle, Reuse n Reduce

By: Jodi MacArthur

Jodi MacArthur — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:59:54 +0000

You know, I’ve never even thought of keeping a ‘potential brilliance’ file of all those words and sentences I’ve clipped out of short stories, flashes, and such…I’ve always deleted and moved on. I’m good about keeping all the stories that haven’t worked and using them for other things, but never a ‘potential brilliance’ file.

Great idea.

I really enjoyed this article, Alegra. Good work.

~Jodi

By: Alegra Clarke

Alegra Clarke — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:13:30 +0000

John,
I think I need to put ‘moleskin notebook’ on my upcoming birthday wish list. I always regret it when I don’t jot things down – I am learning that I am rarely able to retrieve that first flash of inspiration later on, even if I remember the primary idea. Unfortunately, inspiration always seems to visit me when I am on the verge of falling asleep.
I enjoy it when I discover things I can’t remember writing – it is like sneaking up on myself!
Alegra

By: J.C. Towler

J.C. Towler — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:30:41 +0000

I’m finally to the point where I’ve learned to jot down those nifty ideas and lines when they come to me, and, when inspired, let the story tell as much of itself as it wants to at the moment of inspiration. (A friend gave me a moleskin notebook that facilitates this when my computer is not convenient…I can highly recommend them having now used one).

Like Carol, I rarely throw anything away, though I do find I will run across things I can’t remember writing.

–John

By: Eros-Alegra Clarke

Eros-Alegra Clarke — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:13:54 +0000

“Stealing from yourself is highest form of self-flattery.”
Considering how mean-spirited most writers’ inner editor can be, ain’t this the truth! ;o)

By: Ben White

Ben White — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:27:31 +0000

This is an idea wonderfully expressed.

I also love the “circle of writing,” in which long things become short and the short can be expanded (or re-expanded) into longer pieces. Everyday I try to capture a whole story in a couple of sentences. Then later, expand that to short flash. Later still, take that and use it as an element in a longer piece. Stealing from yourself is highest form of self-flattery.

By: Alegra Clarke

Alegra Clarke — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:09:54 +0000

PJ: we both might want to consider keeping a few ants on the premises for the purpose of having an easy scapegoat

Linda: It does sound like we have a similar approach. Although I have to say, you sound far more organized! :o)

Tom: HA! Yeah, the idea of our writing having the potential to cause a rash is motivation of an entirely different kind.

Devorah: Crackberry typing in transit IS a true mark of loyalty!

By: Devorah

Devorah — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:48:08 +0000

Sitting in LAX I thumb the teeny, tiny keys on my crackberry to submit my comment…now that is indeed devotion!

I love the idea of your article! (And your fearless use of the exclamation point)! ;)

Although my academic writing is much less inspiring to those with massive imaginations to weave fictional tales designed to draw in the reader, I also use similar tools. I save my notes and roughs because I often find interlocking pieces to the topics I research and write about. The world is full of amazing connections and we only have to find the spirit to make them.

K – nuff crackberry tiny key thumb typing for a gal winging cross country on 1 hour’s worth o’ sleep.

Keep up your inspiring and insightful contributions to this very interesting blog, Alegra! You always have good stuff to say and I, for one, have picked up some good tips from you!

By: Tom Bentley

Tom Bentley — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:47:17 +0000

Along the same vein, I’d include “Resubmit” as a not-so-strange bedfellow among your “Re” three. I’ve sold three articles to publications this year that were pieces that I dusted off from years back. And a different sale this year was for an article that described the nonfiction backstory behind a short story published years ago. Like poison oak oil that remains active for years after its deposit, there’s life in those tales that snooze on your shelves!

(Now that I think about it, the poison oak simile might not be quite the inspiration I was reaching for….)

By: LindaSW (aka drwasy)

LindaSW (aka drwasy) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:30:04 +0000

Alegra, super post.

I sense we approach writing the same way. I start huge and winnow down, and never, ever waste a word or phrase. In early revisions, I tack all my ‘potential brilliance’ at the end of the chapter to remind myself of their context. On subsequent drafts, I cut them out with a header alerting me to their original source.

I always reuse. My flash piece DEFECTION is the first scene to a novel in process. I’ve published flashes that have morphed into poems, and vice versa. In one poem, a rondeau redouble which will never be published, I coined a phrase (substantial as a dragonfly’s wing) I’ve since used two other places.

I’m simply not creative enough to always be birthing new stuff, but cheap enough to use – and reuse – what I’ve already written. Peace, Linda