Source: Google Images/annkroeker.com

End of Year Cleanup

I’ve spent the better part of today cleaning up the multitude of computer files I’ve hung on to for years. As I cleaned up the so-far-unused information, I wondered what to do with the scraps of my writing life. I have unfinished works in various folders: a new book on the Chinese Medicated Diet, a humorous Chinese Pediatrics e-Book on using natural remedies for growth spurts, an anthology of an alt-med newsletter I wrote and published for many years, and research for a variety of articles yet to be written.

A part of me can’t stand unfinished business; another part misses writing about natural health and wellness (Covid created some financial difficulties and I was unable to renew my medical license this year). That’s a lot of saved information for future articles I won’t be writing. 😦

Yet I can’t quite let go.

Decide What to Keep

I’ve deleted some information and kept other bits. I think part of the reason I can’t let go is there’s a tiny flame of hope I’ll get around to putting something together with all the scraps. Like using a bunch of leftovers to create a new meal. Maybe all I have to do is think more creatively, as writers tend to do. I have some vague ideas but nothing concrete. Can’t quite pull it all together – not yet, anyway. If I hang on to some of the scraps long enough, I’ll come up with that whole new “meal” – perhaps a book or lengthy journal article.

Or, perhaps, I need to change direction and focus on some new topics. Perhaps.

The point of this post? Don’t give up, don’t throw away all your writing scraps. Keep the good scraps and maybe you, too, can create something new and wonderful.

#thewritinglife #fiction #nonfiction #smj4w #bookworm #holidays #xmasgift #amazonsmile