Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to keep great pieces of work you produce,
Speaker 1: even if you don't end up using the work in
Speaker 1: the way you thought you would. What's on the cutting
Speaker 1: room floor today might be just what you want in
Speaker 1: the future. Today's tip, like another this week, comes from
Speaker 1: my interview with Mary Laura Philpott for my other podcast,
Speaker 1: Best of Both Worlds. Mary Laura is a writer best
Speaker 1: known for her memoirs I Miss You When I Blink
Speaker 1: and Bomb Shelter. In our conversation about her writing and
Speaker 1: editing process, Mary Laura told me that she saves everything
Speaker 1: she writes. Rather than saving one draft over the next,
Speaker 1: she are past drafts. That way, if she decides that
Speaker 1: she likes how she structured a narrative better in an
Speaker 1: earlier draft than the latest draft, she can easily restore
Speaker 1: the earlier text to her piece. By archiving, she gets
Speaker 1: over the fear that she'll cut something she wishes she hadn't.
Speaker 1: This allows her to edit boldly as she puts it.
Speaker 1: She explained, I never want to be shy about edits
Speaker 1: because I'm worried I can't get something back. This is
Speaker 1: such a smart strategy. In addition to keeping old drafts intact,
Speaker 1: Mary Laura also has a document titled Legos, where she
Speaker 1: saves bits of texts that she loves but doesn't end
Speaker 1: up using right away. She explains that perhaps in the
Speaker 1: future she will build something else with a text that's cut,
Speaker 1: just like you would with old legos. With writing, you
Speaker 1: can easily see how this could work. A phrase that
Speaker 1: you cut from one essay may become the seed from
Speaker 1: which a poem grows. A description of a landscape that
Speaker 1: you cut from a travel essay may spark an idea
Speaker 1: for a mystery set in that place. My time management
Speaker 1: fable Juliette's School of Possibilities sprang from a few scenes
Speaker 1: in a much longer novel I wrote once and then
Speaker 1: mostly abandoned. On a more mundane level, the first draft
Speaker 1: of your bio may hit the wrong tone for your
Speaker 1: high school reunion blurb, but it could be just right
Speaker 1: for the website of a nonprofit where you serve on
Speaker 1: the board. Having a Legos file for future building is
Speaker 1: relevant for fields besides writing, too. A lesson plan that
Speaker 1: you decide isn't the way you want to approach teaching
Speaker 1: your class this week could be perfect for your students
Speaker 1: next year. A layout for a living room that your
Speaker 1: client thinks she doesn't want might be the one she
Speaker 1: comes back to after exploring other arrangements. Or maybe the
Speaker 1: design will spark your thinking about how to arrange a
Speaker 1: different space for another client in the future. Longtime listeners
Speaker 1: know how much I love Legos, which adds to my
Speaker 1: enthusiasm about Mary Laura's tip. But if Legos aren't the
Speaker 1: metaphor for you, call your repository something different. Building blocks,
Speaker 1: lost and found, loose diamonds, or just outtakes whatever works
Speaker 1: for you. But do create such a repository. If your
Speaker 1: work involves generating ideas and possibilities, keep all your good work,
Speaker 1: even if you don't think a given bit is right
Speaker 1: for the task at hand. If it's a good idea,
Speaker 1: you just might find the perfect home for it in
Speaker 1: the future. You can build an amazing Lego creation with
Speaker 1: the cast offs from a set that started as something else.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod. You
Speaker 1: can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts.
Speaker 1: At iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.