So, I was doing some spring cleaning over the weekend -- got to get a couple of rooms ready to paint, as things look dingy and some of the paint is cracking in the corners -- and I got digging into the depths of a filing cabinet.
Oh my.
I found print outs of three of my first four novels: How Nothing Really Happened At The Haunted Mansion, Thumbprint On Your Soul, and Until Some Tomorrow. (The missing one was lost in a hard drive crash 4 computers ago.)
I pulled them out, dusted them off -- and I thought about reading a few pages.
Then I thought again and put them all right back into the filing cabinet.
I'm not ready to recycle them just yet, but I'm not sure I want to see them again, either. They served their purpose; I learned how to write novel-length tales through these manuscripts. And I am using the setting idea from Mansion in my current WIP, The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.
Will I ever re-do these for publication? Well, let me think about that for a--
Okay, that's long enough: NO FREAKIN' WAY!!!
Ahem.
Some folks have skeletons in their closets; I have dusty manuscripts in my filing cabinet. And they're staying there.
I still have my early novels (in different number of drafts), sitting on top of my bookshelf, collecting dust. I don't have the heart to get rid of them. I'm not interested in revisiting them either. I wrote them when I was interested in YA fantasy. I'm moved on from the genre since then.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of those filing cabinets too. Oh yeah, and then the photo books, with my deeply written poems. You are right some things are better left where they are. Not ready to say good-bye but "no welcome back" either! For now. BTW, did you put your link on Carmi's TP yet? I didn't see it there yesterday!
ReplyDeleteOh yes. I have a couple that will never see the light of day. Mainly due to me binning them when I was fifteen.
ReplyDeleteIf I swore I'd never show it to anybody, could I have a copy of the Haunted Mansion?
ReplyDeleteIt's only a photocopy. It's not on even my old laptop, so I can't put it into a PDF and send it to you. But I swear it hasn't changed since you last read it 20 years ago. It's probably much better left to your memories of it.
DeleteIt's funny -- I just found some more of your stuff the other day as I was cleaning my own files. I didn't have time to do more than glance through it. It was about a choir performance with Mr. H back when I was in choir at your school. Also some poems you wrote about some kids (and me). Jon enjoyed that one.
ReplyDelete