Remember The Drawer? That place to put poems and stories until they cure? Or are forgotten. But forgotten in the best sense? (And do you like all those fragments, you grammar cops?)
Well, sign me up as Pro-Drawer. I was cleaning computer-house the other day (picture me with a virtual mop if that will help), opening cyber-drawer after cyber-drawer. I'd put a bunch of poems and some Flash Fiction pieces away when I started to work on LIES, KNIVES AND GIRLS IN RED DRESSES.
And there they were. Sometimes I open a drawer and there's money in the back. Sometimes just a dead mouse. It's not hard to tell the difference, is it.
Man, there were a lot of dead mice in my cyber-drawers. (Go ahead and make the joke about the other kind of drawers. I'll wait.)
The point is I could tell the difference between a poem or story that was pretty good or might be pretty good and those that were hopeless. It was clear in a heartbeat. So I kissed those hopeless things good-bye.
Throwing moribund things away can be really liberating. And the old New Age bromide might be true: Make room for the new.
See you soon.
Sometimes when I look in the drawers, there are snippets that I didn't remember existed until I confront them again on the page. That's an interesting window into my state of writing mind on some random day from the past.
ReplyDeleteHi Ron,
ReplyDeleteI just "joined" your blog, which I happened upon via Google. Very nice! I've already emailed Marsha, assuming it was her blog. Oops. Anyway, it looks like I'm one of very few males in the group...the story of my life. May I invite you and your members to get to know me? I can be found at http://jeffresnick.blogspot.com. While you might be most interested in my Stories and Books, you might also enjoy my Music, Vocal Artistry, Advertising, etc., etc., etc. Please let me know how I might participate in your blog, if you see the need. Thanks, and nice to meet you.
Jazzy Jeff