Writers are always vulnerable. It’s part of our job, to put parts of ourselves on display, to expose our inner workings. That’s especially true in the early stages of a project, when it’s this half-formed lump with odd protrusions and a rocky second act. With revisions for All the Ugly and Wonderful Things turned in, it’s time to decide what book I want to work on next. What thing to be vulnerable to.
If you read my blog much, you’ll have seen my occasional flirtation with Teaser Tuesday. You’ll have seen just how many random things are hiding in my writing files. So when the topic turned to what I should write next, I opened up the file and took a long, hard look. Then I closed it really fast and went out for a drink.
Later, with my resolve fortified through the consumption of alcohol, I came back and started sorting through all my ideas, drafts, and story parts and pieces. The more I sorted the more I was reminded of a windfall I received last year. A good friend of mine gifted me with several gallon Ziploc bags full of estate sale jewelry. How this came into her possession, I’m not at liberty to say, but she sent it to me with instructions to take anything I wanted and discreetly dispose of the rest.
Of course, the bags mostly contained broken strands of plastic beads, tarnished chains, chipped enamel brooches from the 1970s, and mateless earrings missing rhinestones. The usual junk that gets left behind after someone dies and their heirs have already gone through to pick out anything valuable.
In addition to the junk, however, I found a 14k gold ring set with amethyst and peridot, a string of old Czech glass beads that only needed a new clasp, a clever bracelet made of pesos strung together with wire, and the lovely Indian woven silver necklace I’m wearing in my official author photo.
Sorting through my writing files was like being presented with a giant plastic bag of cast off jewelry and being told, “In this bag of junk there are two pieces of treasure. Your task: find the treasure.” I pulled out things that seemed promising, as well as some things that were intriguing, and here and there a few things that feel like treasure to me. I sent them off to my agent to see if my idea of treasure and her idea of treasure match up.
It was scary, but liberating. I’ve never shown anyone the depth and breadth of my writing files. When I hit send, I felt like an inmate in an asylum, with all my crazy ideas heaped up around me on random bits of paper, but I also felt like a dragon, reclining upon my glittering hoard of ill-gotten chalices, swords, and crowns.
The good news is that on several points, my idea of treasure and my agent’s idea of treasure are similar. Out of the seventeen things I sent her, we found three that we both thought looked like projects my time would be well spent on. Of course, the down side to having made this decision is that I have to stop frittering around, and get to work.
Bryn Greenwood 
If you still have broken strands of beads, I’d be happy to pay the shipping cost to take those off your hands and get them out of Kansas. I’m working on a project that will involve a lot of beads so re-purposed beads from old jewelry would be awesome.
That necklace is gorgeous. Great news as well that your agent and you are on the same page. Scary news that you’ll have to get started again! Ha! You can do it!
Alas, I already made the final disposition of all the things I didn’t want. But there may be another windfall in my future. One never knows.
“but I also felt like a dragon, reclining upon my glittering hoard of ill-gotten chalices, swords, and crowns.” I love this line. I will remember it the next time I go digging through my writing notebooks.
It really was the most magnificent, lush and empowering feeling.
Ahhh, how satisfying. I hope that one day in the future I can do this too!
I really do recommend it, especially on that day when you think, “I want to write, but I don’t know what.” Because more than likely you’ve got something in the files that will fit the bill.
I’ve also found that if you write it down, your brain files it away. Not too long ago I came across an old journal and possible titles for future memoirs to be written. Of those titles, one ended up being used as my WP blog and another was the title of a presentation I gave on “Life Lessons I’ve Learned from Cows.” It was a fun surprise
HA! Yes, there is always something useful. My favorite app for this is Evernote. It allows me to keep so many notes that sync online so they’re backed up. That way if I wake in the middle of the night with an idea or a single line of dialogue, I can just stick it in a note.