Have you ever considered how difficult it used to be to trash your gems? Not that long ago, the process involved a series of advanced cerebellar functions. First, there was the cataclysmic and ceremonial crunching up of the paper, usually involving both hands rolling over each other. Next you tried the rim-shot, where the aforementioned short-story-ball followed an arcing trajectory across the room and sometimes even scored you three points in the waste can. Usually, it fell haplessly in the heap of other short-story-balls in your room or study. Always, they looked up at you with smug short-story-ball eyes, winking with impudence that you should have ever given up on them. And, in the end, you never really got rid of them. Imagine how many lurid minds stole peeks at your work, your brothers, your sisters, dread… your parents… unraveling your short-story-balls and reading them with utter disdain and ridicule.
Not so these days. We haven’t a care in the world. Why, I’ve already deleted this diamond in the rough three times, and no one, not even Tom Gerace, will ever know a jot or a tittle of what I wrote. It was, ah, so easy. It got me to thinking (a practice that usually gets me in trouble). How has this hair-trigger of a mechanism affected our final product? How has the facility of deleting an article changed the way we write?
I imagine it has changed it a good deal. Imagine the temptation before you. One bad phrase, a passing moment of weakness, bad gas… and BOOM, it’s gone. Yes, yes, I know, you can retrieve these beasts if you set it up properly, but hey folks, how many denizens of the written word in these hallowed rooms really know how to do that sort of thing? And have you ever tried typing while your computer auto-saved? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve purposefully deleted poems with glee, and then, later at night, broke into a sweat trying to recall some of the verse. I haven’t even taken up the issue of accidental deletion, which, I’ve heard, has led many to change their vocation from writing to bee-keeping and basket weaving.
I suppose we should all be glad for the time we’ve saved. I mean, I can type nearly
60 words a minute. Very legibly, with auto-correct. Still, is it worth it? What would Milton say? He’d probably say, quit your griping and just write! Okay, I'll try. But, seriously, I can’t tell you how tempted I am, this very moment, to delete this bugger!
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Written by Edward Nudelman, who is also a Books Correspondent for Gather: POETRY CENTRAL
Keep up with Ed’s other posting and Gather activity by joining his Gather network-just click here and select the orange “Connect” button on the left-hand side of the page. If you are interested in my background or qualifications, I invite you to read my profile which has information concerning my published writings.
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Comments: 64
I have way too many marked up drafts in folders with the finished piece, as well as, the various versions; wish I could just toss them all without wondering if I'll later search for that forgotten discarded gem?.
But I find writing quite easy and quick in comp .. Perle ,maintaining versions is a good job indeed ..let me try that sometimes
My article writing is no different from my normal writing. I write it out in WORD, then save it and put it away. I come back to it later in the day or the next day, look at it with fresh eyes, and decide whether to edit or post.
I am sitting here shaking my head and smiling over these comments.
I never throw away ANY piece Ive written. What if I need it later?
While gardening, I find it almost unbearable to kill a sapling, or *gasp*, pluck a "volunteer" from the soil. I contemplate the baby tree and think "Ah what glory it could grow into." I see the small, shivering seedling flower or veggie plant and declare "Not unwanted, unplanned!"
I emptied most of the harder erotica from Terry's gather site recently. But did I trash them....NO. I put them in my "Mental Masturbation" file on this computer for later use.
I'm the one who saves old computers because she can't bear to lose the book material on there.
I'm sure some reader here is likely thinking "Take a deep breath girlie and trash that crap."
But you know, I did toss an old computer full of book fodder once and from it, my soul is Still bleeding......t
It is true that the Internet offers the thrill of instant gratification. I sometimes fall into its trap. But these days, I would rather work on my stories quietly.
Thanks for posting, Edward.
my work either; just read, correct, read, and correct, and now that I think about it,
I should do some deleting, along with correction.
I write in the rough first..love scribbling in my journals at all odd hours. Some thoughts take a flight and go on to become poems, some languish in the journal, waiting for another day.
So, in effect, I never really LOSE anything I have written. This computer writing just does not go down too well with me sometimes..!
Bijou, thanks. Yes, don't throw it away, that's the safe way!
Plus by saving everything, I can look forward to a long, prosperous posthumous writing career. Worked for Tupac and Biggie.
I love the ease with which I can correct what I've written... I can rework and rewrite, toss it all with a click of the mouse or save it infinitely for review. I bow to Bill Gates and his bevy of programmers for bringing out the true writer in me.
If you take the time to write it, find a place to save it.
Poetry, it's pen and paper and save every draft.
Novels on the other hand, it's keyboard and save over the previous draft. Partly because I sit down and write what ever is on the mind, doesnt matter if its in order, doesnt matter if it makes sense. Then I move things in proper order and start reading/editing away.
I have no problems deleting anything, if I don't like it niether will anyone else.
Badeaux Knights
Only when I'm writing a love letter do I dare to do it all the time in paper, it usually will take at least five drafts to get it right, the others will end up in a waste basket in little pieces because I live obsessed somebody might toss them out of the garbage and embarass me.
Raul, thanks sincerely
You skipped the Eighties without shredding one document, Ed, and jumped right into a delightful discourse on delete, which I´ve already printed out. You´re so right about how we´ve gone from fearing our left over mistakes to frying our good efforts by accident. This piece was a joy to read, and the shredder is history.
sometimes I start off with an idea in my head and by the time I have written the piece it is completely different from the original thought.
so what do I do, store it in my memory that I still have to write the article I intended.
If I had to type my thoughts on a non computer key pad, my circle of family and friends would be very shocked at the road my mind takes at 3:00 am ................. lol