Things I Don’t Get, Vol. 1

[Attention: rant ahead]

Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning (don’t know why *that* should be, I only spent an hour making a lovely roast chicken last night that Sailor Boy gobbled down in five minutes before rushing out the door to play games with his friend — I feel like a neglected wife and I’m not even married!) but can I take a minute to ruminate on one of the big things I don’t get?

WHY DO WRITERS FEEL COMPELLED TO DESTORY THEIR OWN WORK?!?!?!?!?!

I have seen three instances in the past week in which writers have either admitted to throwing something away, ruminated on throwing something away or threatened to throw something away because it’s received so many rejections, or has failed to final in so many contests, or has otherwise not lived up to said writer’s expectations. Yeah, some love you have for your “baby,” there.

I was chalking it up to whiny female neuroses and general self-destructive tendencies. “Fine, no one likes this? I will destroy it and then give it the mysterious power possessed by all “lost art” that future generations will mourn over…” But it appears to be very common. In fits of frustration, writers wipe their hard drives, burn their manuscripts, shred their notes and use their character sketches to line bird cages. But this is not limited to women, or to amateurs.

Janet Evanovitch chucked all her unsold manuscripts the day before she sold. Shirley Jump was in the process of deleting hers when she got The Call. Stephen freakin’ King threw Carrie in the trash, from whence his wife retrieved it and sent it out.

Seriously, explain this to me. Please. I do not have this gene. Even if stuff is utter crap, even if I wrote it and everyone and their dog says it sucks and I have no intentions of ever showing it to another living soul, I save it, I put it on a disk, I print it out and put it away in a file or under my bed somewhere because you never know if someday, twenty years down the line, you will want to remember a certain feeling or a certain character name, or three words you put together in your life sometime that might have a redeeming value. Hell, you might just want to look at it and see how far you’ve come! Why destroy it?

It is interesting to note that all the famous stories listed above were immediately followed by, “And then she sold, and then the book made a mint, and then etc. etc.” I wonder if these writers who love the Delete button and the lighter fluid are secretly hoping that their sacrifice will trigger the magic they so long for. Success only comes when you’re about to give up, right? If I trash all my work, the stuff that is out will sell, won’t it? Hey, it worked for Stephen King. Perhaps the act of throwing the manuscript into the recycling bin will make someone else realize how valuable it is.

Well yeah, as future newsprint.

Don’t throw away your writing, people. You never know when you’re going to want it.

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