Slushy

I have a lot of folders related to writing in my computer. They have generic names like “Workshop Stories,” “Blogs,” and “Poems” - names that are simply labels to sort out all the writing that I do, like zip codes. However, only one of them is lovingly called “The Slush Pile.” Unlike an editor’s dreaded stack of unread manuscripts, this Slush Pile has a different meaning to me.

I keep any unfinished attempts at writing in this folder: a paragraph of description, two-sentence blog entries, half-baked character sketches, and incomplete short stories that are about a page long. I call those stories “false starts” because they start off great, until I lose momentum at about a page or two when I forget my training and listen to that inner critic, which always throws Kool-Aid at my un-laminated plans.

But putting the writing away in the Slush Pile helps to remind me that any writing that I do is important, whether it’s finished or not. Maybe I’ll improve my writing. That’s the hope anyway.