Draft Deleting? Don't Do It!
Why it's important not to discard
Today, I had a little time. I decided that I would have a look at the drafts that I have on Vocal. This is part of a long-term wish to have everything I've written on paper rather than virtually. I've not looked at them for weeks and something drew me to them, just to browse and see what was there.
10 pages. Some were ideas. Some were just pictures I'd saved from Unsplash which were distinct. I could see why I had saved them as looking at them again, I felt my brain setting into motion a storytelling idea. I moved on. Some were indices, incomplete, like all the stories that I wrote in 2024 - the index stops at the beginning of March, January and February listed with links. Would have been a great idea. Best laid plans and all that.
I was a little shocked by how many drafts there were. I thought I was quite methodical and tidy. I decided to read one or two. One called "The Odd Fellows" was a description of three different male characters at a traffic crossing. They sprang back in to my mind like a prophetic vision. I remembered being in the car and seeing this disparate group and thinking, "I wonder who they are and how they met" and so, I recorded it. That was all I'd done - a brief description of the men and how they looked and dressed. However, the germ of a story is there and I hope to return to it at some point.
I found a story called "Anchor" that I'd started for an unofficial challenge set by Randy Baker. I have no idea what the premise was for it. Take a word from a list maybe and make something from it? Who knows? But whatever the stimulus, I had decided to craft something.
I've not read this story for months, maybe even over a year. It's incomplete. I'm not going to go into the detail of it here because my hope is to finish it and publish it.
And I suppose that that is my point in writing this. I've written before about the guilt that I feel in leaving my stories to languish because I start them and sometimes, don't get to complete them. They are in a state of stasis, a collection of good intentions, left, uncared for. Honestly, I feel an immeasurable amount of guilt about them being neglected. Strange, isn't it? I suppose they are my creations and I have been invested in them but just couldn't complete them for whatever reason.
Reading "Anchor", I was transported once again into that writing headspace. I remembered my intention on writing it. I could visualise in my head once again what I'd been trying to convey when I'd originally started writing it. I could see the characters from the dialogue. I liked what I'd done. I did some tweaks while I was reading, made some edits, removed some words, made it flow, changed punctuation.
It was like revisiting an old friend. What was refreshing about it though was that with the time away from it, I was able to read it with fresh eyes. I had distance from it and the tweaks that I made, which I think make it flow better now, would not have been done at the time of writing. Letting it sit means that when I publish it, because of the amendments I've made after time away from it, it will be a better piece.
I'm itching to return to it now. Unfortunately, I don't have the time. It is my mantra, it seems. But I will complete it. Not today. But I will.
And what I've discovered is that it might actually be a better story as a result. It won't have matured like a fine malt; it will have sat, waiting but in the space between it and me, my ideas will have grown and I will be able to come back and hone it into something better than it was when I left it. I certainly felt today that I improved it, shaped it into something more in the brief time that I was with it. I whittled away at it and gradually, like a Venus from stone, something beautiful emerged which was all my very own. Pretentious? Maybe a little.
So my message is this: don't throw your drafts. Keep them. Revisit them. Maintain copies of them. They may not be perfect currently but they could in time turn into something marvellous.
I'm off on holiday tomorrow so "Anchor" will have to wait (weight?) but I will take my notebook with me and with some mulling time, I will think about where I can take the story and perhaps more importantly, where I can be taken by the story.
And then, where you, dear reader, can be taken by it too.
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Comments (31)
Well deserved Top Story & great advice. I know the feeling” “I'm itching to return to it now. Unfortunately, I don't have the time. It is my mantra, it seems. But I will complete it. Not today. But I will.” Trust your holiday went well.🤗
Definitely understand the "guilt" feeling when you leave characters waiting to advance further in their stories. Generally I give myself 1 week to create a new chapter to the current story I'm working on. It clearly does not always work, but gives time for the germination period.
Congratulations on Top Story, Rachel! I also have a great collection of drafts, some are rather antique at this point. I rarely, almost never discard a draft if there is at least a sentence there. If it’s just a title I don’t care much. You recording the three guys, their description, and what they were wearing, wondering how they met, etc, creating their character profile and thinking about putting them in a story is exactly what I was talking about in ‘The woman who controls the weather.’ I went on making it a little more dramatic because some drama is necessary sometimes in the plot. But yes, character development is one of the most interesting parts of crafting a story, I believe. Potential characters are all around us!
Congratulations, Rachel, on your top story and leaderboard placement! I, too, have many Vocal drafts that have just been sitting for quite some time. I don't delete mine either. I figure at some point I will revisit and bring the original inspiration to life. At a certain moment, something compelled me to open my laptop and record a reference point, so sooner or later, the magick will find its form. Have a nice holiday❣
Congrats on your leaderboard placement AND for your top story! I too am guilty of abandoning things. I've been working on it. I realize I try to do too much at once, so I'm slowing down and taking it one at a time. This was a little nudge to help keep me in the right direction :)
Well done, Rachel, great story and deserving of recognition.
Wooohooooo congratulations on your Leaderboard placement! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Hm, very interesting. Congrats on Top Story and Leaderboard!
Congratulations on your leaderboard domination!!!💖🍾🥂
💚 “I whittled away at it and gradually, like a Venus from stone, something beautiful emerged which was all my very own. Pretentious? Maybe a little.” Hah! Not at all. The editing process is important. I always remember my yr 12 English teacher calling it ‘polishing’. Have a good break. And hope you are going well. 😊
Enjoy your break, Rachel, and congratulations on your top story. I have over a hundred story titles I will get around to one day, I guess.
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Dear BritBud~Fellow Procrastinator. I still have the draft I've written about you being 'Made Redundant.' btw; a little tease for Kelli: can't imagine she has anything saved. CalBud - Jk.in.l.a.
You never know what old drafts can become! You just might think of an idea for them that you might not have before.
I can sooo relate to this (except the caution not to delete mine because I would never do that.) I just checked after reading this. I have almost exactly 100 drafts. The oldest is four years old. It's entitled "The Webs We Weave" and it was "last saved four years ago." The subtitle is "Incomplete working draft." And yeah-- several of mine are "ideas" -- short lists of the seeds of story ideas. Great story, Rachel. Congrats on it being a Top Story. I'll bet a lot of us relate to this. ⚡️💙 Bill⚡️
I mean you are right. Seeing old drafts IS like visiting an old friend. I love this! Excellent advice here Rach!
Great advice...I also rummage through my drafts reconnecting and rearranging, waiting for that spark that sets it off. Congrats on your top story
Looking forward To when you “drop “ anchor! And definitely sound advice, I love coming back to something that’s had time to maturate in my mind or makes me wonder just what the hell I was thinking.
Omggg, Randy Baker! He just disappeared! Hope he is doing okay though Whoaaaa, 10 pages of drafts! I only have 2 pages. And you know what? My latest poem was actually from my drafts. I hadn't published since September 2025 so I visited my drafts. I saw this poem from 2 or 3 years, polished it a little and published it. Looks like I took your advice wayyyy before you gave it hehehehe Also, I can't "weight" to read Anchor! Enjoy your vacation!
My problem isn't with drafts; I have very few, but with looking at published titles and remembering what the story was about. It normally takes one or two lines for me to recall the whole story, but it is frustrating. Getting old sucks.
I like that description of ‘a collection of good intentions’ for drafts sitting in wait. It’s crazy to me how they multiply. The last time I went through them, one hadn’t been touched in 2 years. And yes, im guilty of deleting a few but those were all poems that didn’t make it past one or two lines. I was surprised to find 2 completed fiction stories I never submitted to challenges. I guess they’re not completed since I didn’t feel they were good enough to submit, haha. Thank you for sharing this, Rachel. I think I’ll take a stroll through them today. Happy Holiday!
While it is good to keep the drafts, it was a reason that Vocal gave me for stopping publishing even though I didn;t have many . Good advice
sometimes i feel like all i do is think and draft, think and draft. "when does all the writing happen in writing??" the pieces need to marinate in our brains, and sometimes, maybe when you think you'll never finish, it comes. good advice, rachel. i am guilty of deleting drafts on vocal (and writing in general), but only ones i truly felt "lost the plot" and needed to be started over anyway. "kill your darlings" and all that. thanks for sharing :)
I look forward to reading the completed story. An anchor is a visceral object, hard and as you said tongue in cheek “weighty,” but also a powerful metaphor. I hope you have great and refreshing time away, Rachel!
Sound advice. I also recommend coming back to drafts once considered finished and giving them another look.