What do you recommend I do with all those things I wrote years ago but have never been able to bring myself to show anyone?
Drag them out. They aren't doing you or anyone else any good in a closet. Re-read them. If it's been a long time, you're bound to want to change them and then have them read. There's nothing more stimulating than when someone reads your work and loves it. The juices flow, and you're off and running again!
I have never had the problems with what to do with my old material. Most were not publishable, and I discarded them years ago. Also, I never had any fear of showing the past work with anyone.
I recommend you keep them. Sometimes, it's good to go back and read old material from time to time. I never throw anything away. Once, I allowed my mother to convince me to throw away a journal from a specific time in my life--a time that was rocky and full of personal struggle. She said it would be therapeutic to "let it go." To this day I regret throwing that journal away. Always keep whatever you write, even if it's just in a box. Anything can be used later for inspiration or research for a story, character, or voice.
Publish them on your own blog or join one like Open Salon.
Save them in a nice, neat, portable, plastic hanging file folder--the kind that costs $10 at office supply stores. Put this somewhere you can access it but that's not underfoot. Sometime you might want to revisit this treasure trove of ideas. One important step of writing is honoring your ideas. Those old writings are your ideas and worth saving.
Join an online writing group that suits your needs, and show them your work.
Write something new.
Read them again--two or three times; then, edit them with a unbiased eye. Next, share them with a friend or spouse. See what the feedback is.
But in the end, you have to be honest with yourself, and if you think the material has potential, them go foreword.
Show it only to those who have experiences in life similar to yours. They are the only people qualified to critique. Someone I have yet to meet.
See if you can use them now in their present or a new form. Or throw them out and start anew. Either method is extremely liberating.
If you died tomorrow, would you like your estate to publish them? Often, those early works show a writing evolution, a development of style and sometimes the germ of an idea that you can reuse and recast in a different more experienced light. In fact, I am dusting off an old fictional effort that I got 100 pages into, put down and realize that I now know exactly where I was intending to go with it
I have two hard drives, both in a safe deposit box, each filled with my digital life's work and interests. Printed works have been stored but not before they were all scanned and digitized. My heirs are going to have a blast!
If you aspire to be a writer, you might want to begin by writing on the Internet. You can blog or write as an editor, as I have been doing for a number of years.
Then wait and see if you get anyone's attention and feedback. This will give you an idea as to whether you should or shouldn't leave your day job for a writing career.
Keep them and compare them to what you are doing now. Treasure your progress. Nobody need see anything if you are embarrassed to show them. If you are embarrassed, don't show anybody. If you are proud of it, show it to everyone you trust.
Read them, show them to a person/people you trust and be open to feedback. You can even publish them or put them in a scrapbook. But make sure you read them and share them.
If you're happy with them, shop them around. No one can read them under your bed... |
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