As writers, we write a ton of stories that are now “stored” under our beds. Each figuratively wrapped lovingly in tissue paper and placed gently in a beautiful wooden box under our beds. A present to ourselves, when we dare look back.
Okay
- in reality, they are languishing in 3-ringed binders, if they were printed.
If not, they are buried on long-lost flash drives, in computer files on computers that
have been retired long ago, or on floppy disks (yikes, yes many are on floppies
covered in dust, buried in a package of some sort – if any of us can even
remember what floppies are and how they were used.)
But for me, those stories still resonate. I think about them and wonder how I can resurrect them. Unwrap them from an antiquated lace scarf buried deep in an old trunk in the recesses of my brain. Deep down, I know that since I started seriously writing romance in the early 2000s, that I have learned so much. And I will be disappointed to read what I once thought was…drum roll…brilliant.
So,
the question is, will my time be well spent if I go back, dig them out of the
long-forgotten package, and try to fix those stories. The basics, the elements
of the story, the setting, the characters…they are all part of me. It’s the
grammar, point of view fixes, and redundancy that needs to be fixed. Is it worth
it? Or will it take so much energy and time to pick the manuscript apart and
resurrect it, that I will grow to hate my old manuscripts and want to bury them
again in an old box or trunk or abandoned file cabinet? Or will I actually want
to burn them and watch the remnants of my dreams drift skyward?
But I
do love the idea of a treasure hunt. And resurrecting the excitement I
experienced when writing those early manuscripts. Why do you think those
nuggets are still languishing “under my bed?” Who can bear to throw away what might
be a treasure to someone? My gift to the world. And certainly, a gift to
myself, if only for the pleasure I felt as I wrote the story that tumbled from
my brain straight to my fingers and on to the page—no matter the massive
writing mistakes.
Alas,
there are so many more stories waiting to get out. And time is running out. So
maybe I’ll leave those first stories buried in a neat package for my children,
grandchildren, and friends to discover. And…I am sure I’ll hear them singing
their praises about how utterly brilliant I was.
One
can only dream…
Celebrating romance!
Reading romance on vacation!
Running to your nearest
Indie Book Store and scouring
the shelves for a good romance.
THE LOVE LEFT BEHIND
Fall weddings
Get a head start on holiday Reading
Release Date: October 17, 2022, PREORDER NOW
cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires
burning ~
Delsora
Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from
the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.
Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her newest novella is The Love Left Behind. Look for both a Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) later this fall.
Photo Credits:
Present
Floppy Disk
Trunk
Clock
Editing
