I take old text of mine and put it through the Lazarus Cut up and Remix Desk, letting it resort and give me fun juxtapositions that i then might use as lines, or as prompts. https://www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/cutup
Once again, your words spoke to me exactly where I am. I’m headed into year 2 of my 4-yr MFA and feeling terrified that I have nothing new to present in my workshop and craft classes. To that end, I dumped my stack of notebooks on my bed yesterday and began combing through them for things I wrote and forgot about. A brilliant thing I’ve discovered is that there are some threads and common themes and characters that were coming up as I wrote that I couldn’t see when I wrote in 2020/21/22 that I can see now because I’m looking at the whole salad, not just the chopped tomatoes. 😋 Thanks Grant!
You can name this process "notebook dumping." It's amazing how many "throwaway" creations are part of the writing life, how we write something in the moment and then forget it.
Your "dump" file is my "outtakes." After writing several drafts of two novels, I've accrued several pages of mostly paragraphs,, scenes really. When I think I've reached a final draft, I read my "outtakes" file. It's not so much trying to find a place for some of those scenes just because I thought they were really good ones!, but because of what I was trying to show. I've often reused the scene, but not in its original package, to show, for example, a bit of more character development.
"Junkyard Dogs." Love it. I found something yesterday in my files that I forgot I had actually written. I read it to a writer friend and she laughed and laughed. A good sign that there's a gem there. Thanks Grant!
You say "I want to surrender to daydreaming while traipsing through my archives, to use the words to write a few lines of a poem or a few lines of a story, just to see how it feels." Me too!
A conversation, on Substack Notes of course, sparked a memory of a story long forgotten in the “pandemic-era” when writing was my only escape in a time when just going to the corner of my block was unwise! I didn’t realize just how many of these stories I wrote in those years. Cathartic at the time. I wrote them and walked away, until now. I’ve spent the last few months revisiting these works (and others) and realizing more could be done with them besides just storing away in a Scriv file. We shall see. In the meantime, I’m having a blast walking through the past!
Hi Grant, I just love this . . . all of it! If it's okay, I'll include info about Accountability Write-Ins in my Sept 1 Newsletter. "Just Write" is also my motto. I'm a big fan of yours! Marlene Cullen
Thanks for the weekly reassurances. You remind us that we aren't alone in our experiences as writers. Give a shout out if you ever want to hold something in person. We're in the neighborhood and might bump into you at the Albany Bulb sometime!
I take old text of mine and put it through the Lazarus Cut up and Remix Desk, letting it resort and give me fun juxtapositions that i then might use as lines, or as prompts. https://www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/cutup
Oh, how cool! Thanks so much for passing this on.
my pleasure. :)
I just bookmarked this to try!
Let me know. I'm thinking of doing a workshop on making guided remixes
I like these recent in-between-projects posts.
Thanks, Barbara! I just might be in between for a while ....
Once again, your words spoke to me exactly where I am. I’m headed into year 2 of my 4-yr MFA and feeling terrified that I have nothing new to present in my workshop and craft classes. To that end, I dumped my stack of notebooks on my bed yesterday and began combing through them for things I wrote and forgot about. A brilliant thing I’ve discovered is that there are some threads and common themes and characters that were coming up as I wrote that I couldn’t see when I wrote in 2020/21/22 that I can see now because I’m looking at the whole salad, not just the chopped tomatoes. 😋 Thanks Grant!
You can name this process "notebook dumping." It's amazing how many "throwaway" creations are part of the writing life, how we write something in the moment and then forget it.
Your "dump" file is my "outtakes." After writing several drafts of two novels, I've accrued several pages of mostly paragraphs,, scenes really. When I think I've reached a final draft, I read my "outtakes" file. It's not so much trying to find a place for some of those scenes just because I thought they were really good ones!, but because of what I was trying to show. I've often reused the scene, but not in its original package, to show, for example, a bit of more character development.
I like "outtakes"--more accurate, I think. And that's such an interesting process, to read your outtakes file after a final draft.
"Junkyard Dogs." Love it. I found something yesterday in my files that I forgot I had actually written. I read it to a writer friend and she laughed and laughed. A good sign that there's a gem there. Thanks Grant!
It's always funny where writers leave gems. It's part of the job of a writer: to create gems, then forget about them, or not even know they are gems.
Another reason why we need writer friends who can tell us, there's gold there.
Or maybe just bronze, but polish it up a bit!
I call it "compost."
You say "I want to surrender to daydreaming while traipsing through my archives, to use the words to write a few lines of a poem or a few lines of a story, just to see how it feels." Me too!
A conversation, on Substack Notes of course, sparked a memory of a story long forgotten in the “pandemic-era” when writing was my only escape in a time when just going to the corner of my block was unwise! I didn’t realize just how many of these stories I wrote in those years. Cathartic at the time. I wrote them and walked away, until now. I’ve spent the last few months revisiting these works (and others) and realizing more could be done with them besides just storing away in a Scriv file. We shall see. In the meantime, I’m having a blast walking through the past!
Junkyard Dogs! Love it. Let those puppies howl themselves back into existence!
My file is called Compost Pile. I believe in the possibility of rebirth and regeneration—death as a way of feeding new life.
Hi Jeyn! (good to run into you again). I call it compost, too, for the same reason.
Oh my word! Audrey! Hello! You might've even been the inspiration for my File name!!!
Hi Grant, I just love this . . . all of it! If it's okay, I'll include info about Accountability Write-Ins in my Sept 1 Newsletter. "Just Write" is also my motto. I'm a big fan of yours! Marlene Cullen
Thanks for the weekly reassurances. You remind us that we aren't alone in our experiences as writers. Give a shout out if you ever want to hold something in person. We're in the neighborhood and might bump into you at the Albany Bulb sometime!