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October 26, 2024 5 mins

Save creative work you can't use right now

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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to keep great pieces of work you produce,
even if you don't end up using the work in
the way you thought you would. What's on the cutting

(00:26):
room floor today might be just what you want in
the future. Today's tip, like another this week, comes from
my interview with Mary Laura Philpott for my other podcast,
Best of Both Worlds. Mary Laura is a writer best
known for her memoirs I Miss You When I Blink
and Bomb Shelter. In our conversation about her writing and

(00:50):
editing process, Mary Laura told me that she saves everything
she writes. Rather than saving one draft over the next,
she are past drafts. That way, if she decides that
she likes how she structured a narrative better in an
earlier draft than the latest draft, she can easily restore

(01:10):
the earlier text to her piece. By archiving, she gets
over the fear that she'll cut something she wishes she hadn't.
This allows her to edit boldly as she puts it.
She explained, I never want to be shy about edits
because I'm worried I can't get something back. This is

(01:33):
such a smart strategy. In addition to keeping old drafts intact,
Mary Laura also has a document titled Legos, where she
saves bits of texts that she loves but doesn't end
up using right away. She explains that perhaps in the
future she will build something else with a text that's cut,

(01:58):
just like you would with old legos. With writing, you
can easily see how this could work. A phrase that
you cut from one essay may become the seed from
which a poem grows. A description of a landscape that
you cut from a travel essay may spark an idea

(02:19):
for a mystery set in that place. My time management
fable Juliette's School of Possibilities sprang from a few scenes
in a much longer novel I wrote once and then
mostly abandoned. On a more mundane level, the first draft
of your bio may hit the wrong tone for your

(02:40):
high school reunion blurb, but it could be just right
for the website of a nonprofit where you serve on
the board. Having a Legos file for future building is
relevant for fields besides writing, too. A lesson plan that
you decide isn't the way you want to approach teaching

(03:00):
your class this week could be perfect for your students
next year. A layout for a living room that your
client thinks she doesn't want might be the one she
comes back to after exploring other arrangements. Or maybe the
design will spark your thinking about how to arrange a
different space for another client in the future. Longtime listeners

(03:26):
know how much I love Legos, which adds to my
enthusiasm about Mary Laura's tip. But if Legos aren't the
metaphor for you, call your repository something different. Building blocks,
lost and found, loose diamonds, or just outtakes whatever works

(03:48):
for you. But do create such a repository. If your
work involves generating ideas and possibilities, keep all your good work,
even if you don't think a given bit is right
for the task at hand. If it's a good idea,
you just might find the perfect home for it in

(04:10):
the future. You can build an amazing Lego creation with
the cast offs from a set that started as something else.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

(04:37):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You
can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts.
At iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out

(05:00):
with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look
forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam

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