Sneak peek at articles I’m sort of almost finished writing. Still don’t know what I’m doing yet.
Below is a screenshot of my current Substack drafts. Yes, I’ve only been here a month and I have a drafts folder. For longtime followers of my work, you know that I also have a drafts folder in my notepad app, my voice notes app, my edits app, my Google Drive, and of course that quaint “drafts folder” of yore – my physical notebook.
What is it about starting an article that makes it feel done and dusted for the moment? As if getting the idea out of your head is satisfying enough? (And not too vulnerable either.) What we draft-folder-hogging writers really ought to do – because I know I’m not the only one! – is get into the habit of writing in the moment of having the thought/idea and committing it to post immediately, before the critical and overthinking side of our brain figures out what’s going on.
Anyway.
Above is what I’ve got planned for the next… month? Or let me see, there’s one, two, three… five of these drafts. I COULD bang them out in a week?? Could I? Should I? It would be absolutely nauseating to see this list get longer, especially since one of my big goals this year is to cut all of the drafts folders down to size.
I’m excited about getting more of my thinking out into the world in prose form. I’ve dealt mostly in pictures and pithy lines for many years – an occupation that is all about filtering and distilling your thoughts down into the simplest expression. That’s what inspired the name and image for this Substack. What goes in must come out. All of the worldview and thinking, the rage (!) and irony that you see in harmless, sanitised cartoon and quote form… well, it’s here now:))
I don’t know. I think I’m scary, but the truth is that even when I’m furious and raging at the system, I’ve been told I’m still really rather polite.
This blog post first appeared on whatgoesinmustcomeout.substack.com
