Well. That's unexpected.

skb · 05-05-2019, 05:01 PM

I haven't been writing much (at all) lately. I just can't commit to getting stuff done.

Anyway, I thought I'd weed out items that were obviously never going to get anywhere.

Disaster.

I read them for the first time since...2018, and discovered I really liked them. In all their "work in progress/weirdly disjointed" glory.

One I started in 2006. Which is just ridiculous. But, I just can't delete them. And there are about eight (if I count an episodic 'growing like Topsy' mega-thing as one story). Good grief.

So, I'm working (more or less) on them once more.

Do you have projects you just let go? Is there a cure?

rcentros · 05-05-2019, 08:46 PM

Recently I decided to revisit a screenplay I "finished" (first draft) about fifteen years ago that I gave up on in disgust — it was just sitting there. I thought, "I should dig that up and see what it's like." But to do that I had to "rescue" it from a defunct file format (fortunately XML based, so I could extract the text but not the format) and turn it back into a readable screenplay, via Fountain mark up. It took about six to eight hours to get it readable. At first I thought, "hey, this wasn't that bad," but then I read through it again and began to see why it had "disgusted" me in the first place. At this point I'm seeing if there is any way to rescue it, but I think it'll basically be "save the radiator cap and replace the car" type of thing. This was my only attempt at a full-length screenplay. All the others were short screenplays (about three to four hundred of them).

gmw · 05-06-2019, 04:40 AM

Hmm... I'm not sure if there's anything I can officially say "I let that go". There's stuff I've written that I know is a disaster (with, as rcentros put so well, maybe a radiator cap worth of goodness) that will never see the light of day. They sit on an encrypted drive to which only I have the key, so these will - as Death Cab for Cutie put it - follow me into the dark.

And there's a lot of unfinished/undeveloped stuff. But this isn't like graphic/video art where the work might consume gigabytes of disk space; it's all text so, so far, I've never found any reason to delete anything. So anything I've ever started but not finished is still a considered a work-in-progress. In practice, there's a lot I know I will never pick up again, but there are a few that I still hold out hope for (maybe when I retire or some such nonsense). Where there's life there's hope?

I have a project from around 2008 or so that I'm still hopeful might become a novel ... but it has to get in line after a number of more recent items that I have higher hopes for. And they all have to get in line after work that pays the bills (regrettably the small number of published works don't do that). Just today I started to tell someone that I had finished writing the first draft of a novel last year ... except then I had to correct myself when I realised "last year" was last year. Time flies.

Graham · 05-06-2019, 05:23 AM

I have a folder called Trunk where I shift stories that are complete but which I decide aren't worth working on any further. It seems to send my brain a signal that I can let go of those.

skb · 05-06-2019, 05:52 PM

Well, rcentros, I seem to have more than a radiator cap and less than a car. Sort of a VW Beetle on drugs. But no roof. And there may be a few holes in the floor. But it runs. Almost.

GMW I agree on the space thing. Text takes up no space at all (relatively) in these days a gigathings. I have backups of my backups (ever since the great "HDD Disaster of 2002" or whenever it was I lost everything - I've repressed it) and even have HDDs in a safe.

Graham I have a project called "Misc" where I whack in ideas etc but also fridge stuff that's going nowhere. You never know when you may be able to recycle something.

Anyway, I've tinkered around with some of the previously fridged stuff and I'm hoping to keep going with them. It's my 2019 challenge (but probably also 2020 & 2021).

rcentros · 05-06-2019, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skb

Well, rcentros, I seem to have more than a radiator cap and less than a car. Sort of a VW Beetle on drugs. But no roof. And there may be a few holes in the floor. But it runs. Almost.

It sounds like you're a real writer. I am a wannabe, or probably even less, a "wanted to be" as I'm really not doing much writing anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skb

Anyway, I've tinkered around with some of the previously fridged stuff and I'm hoping to keep going with them. It's my 2019 challenge (but probably also 2020 & 2021).

Good luck. I'm guessing you're a pretty good judge of what should be saved.

05-05-2019, 05:01 PM	#1
skb Evangelist Posts: 401 Karma: 1597305 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Ipod G4, MacOS 10.12, Calibre, Pocketbook Touch HD 3	Well. That's unexpected. I haven't been writing much (at all) lately. I just can't commit to getting stuff done. Anyway, I thought I'd weed out items that were obviously never going to get anywhere. Disaster. I read them for the first time since...2018, and discovered I really liked them. In all their "work in progress/weirdly disjointed" glory. One I started in 2006. Which is just ridiculous. But, I just can't delete them. And there are about eight (if I count an episodic 'growing like Topsy' mega-thing as one story). Good grief. So, I'm working (more or less) on them once more. Do you have projects you just let go? Is there a cure?

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05-05-2019, 08:46 PM	#2
rcentros eReader Wrangler Posts: 7,738 Karma: 50255637 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Boise, ID Device: PB HD3, GL3, Tolino Vision 4, Voyage, Clara HD	Recently I decided to revisit a screenplay I "finished" (first draft) about fifteen years ago that I gave up on in disgust — it was just sitting there. I thought, "I should dig that up and see what it's like." But to do that I had to "rescue" it from a defunct file format (fortunately XML based, so I could extract the text but not the format) and turn it back into a readable screenplay, via Fountain mark up. It took about six to eight hours to get it readable. At first I thought, "hey, this wasn't that bad," but then I read through it again and began to see why it had "disgusted" me in the first place. At this point I'm seeing if there is any way to rescue it, but I think it'll basically be "save the radiator cap and replace the car" type of thing. This was my only attempt at a full-length screenplay. All the others were short screenplays (about three to four hundred of them).

05-06-2019, 04:40 AM	#3
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,812 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Hmm... I'm not sure if there's anything I can officially say "I let that go". There's stuff I've written that I know is a disaster (with, as rcentros put so well, maybe a radiator cap worth of goodness) that will never see the light of day. They sit on an encrypted drive to which only I have the key, so these will - as Death Cab for Cutie put it - follow me into the dark. And there's a lot of unfinished/undeveloped stuff. But this isn't like graphic/video art where the work might consume gigabytes of disk space; it's all text so, so far, I've never found any reason to delete anything. So anything I've ever started but not finished is still a considered a work-in-progress. In practice, there's a lot I know I will never pick up again, but there are a few that I still hold out hope for (maybe when I retire or some such nonsense). Where there's life there's hope? I have a project from around 2008 or so that I'm still hopeful might become a novel ... but it has to get in line after a number of more recent items that I have higher hopes for. And they all have to get in line after work that pays the bills (regrettably the small number of published works don't do that). Just today I started to tell someone that I had finished writing the first draft of a novel last year ... except then I had to correct myself when I realised "last year" was last year. Time flies.

05-06-2019, 05:23 AM	#4
Graham Wizard Posts: 2,742 Karma: 32912427 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: North Yorkshire, UK Device: Kobo H20, Pixel 2, Samsung Chromebook Plus	I have a folder called Trunk where I shift stories that are complete but which I decide aren't worth working on any further. It seems to send my brain a signal that I can let go of those.

05-06-2019, 05:52 PM	#5
skb Evangelist Posts: 401 Karma: 1597305 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Ipod G4, MacOS 10.12, Calibre, Pocketbook Touch HD 3	Well, rcentros, I seem to have more than a radiator cap and less than a car. Sort of a VW Beetle on drugs. But no roof. And there may be a few holes in the floor. But it runs. Almost. GMW I agree on the space thing. Text takes up no space at all (relatively) in these days a gigathings. I have backups of my backups (ever since the great "HDD Disaster of 2002" or whenever it was I lost everything - I've repressed it) and even have HDDs in a safe. Graham I have a project called "Misc" where I whack in ideas etc but also fridge stuff that's going nowhere. You never know when you may be able to recycle something. Anyway, I've tinkered around with some of the previously fridged stuff and I'm hoping to keep going with them. It's my 2019 challenge (but probably also 2020 & 2021).