Creative Writing Tips - How to Use that Old Writing
(For more creative writing tips, join our writer's email group.)People often ask me what they can do with all of those snippets of unfinished writing they have done over the years.
They have so many journal entries that they feel overwhelmed by the idea of rereading them all...
Or they have hundreds of story beginnings that they never got around to continuing...
Or they have scraps and scenes that they have no idea how to ever fit together...
"What do I do with that stuff?" they ask. "Where do I even begin?"
In case any of this feels familiar, I wanted to share my advice on this topic.
Just because you've written something doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. There's more where that came from! Your creativity isn't a limited resource.
Yet, there's this feeling some people have of not wanting their efforts to go to waste.
So many pages written, so much time invested -- there must be SOMETHING you can get out of it.
If this is how you feel, consider this possibility...
You already HAVE gotten something out of it.
The only way to grow and improve as a writer is through practice. Everything you write builds skills that use in your future writing. Everything you imagine opens new possibilities for your imagination. Everything you write is a step in a journey, taking you a little further.
What you write today would not be possible without the writing you've done before.
Maybe the importance of all of that old writing is not the actually words on the page. There are more words where those came from. Maybe it's the experience that's really important. Maybe it's the skills you built, the creative journey you took.
But if this doesn't feel like enough to you, here are two other ways for you to use all of that old writing...
1) Whenever you're stuck for writing ideas, you can dip into that collection of old writing for inspiration.
2) You can actually finish and revise some of those unfinished pieces. If there's so much stuff that you don't know where to start, choose a piece at random to work with. You can find advice on developing your story here.
Or you can join our online course on building stories.
More creative writing tips
- Join our free email group.
- If you tend to lose interest partway through a writing project, read this.
- Browse all pages on how to write a story.
<< BACK from Creative Writing Tips to Creative Writing Now Home
