The Story You Write Today

Ideas come and go. That's just the way things are. We try to combat that. We write those ideas down. We save their essence for us to return to later, when we have the time to handle them. But when that time does arrive, the idea isn't there.

That's why we have our notes though. We read them and it brings the idea back to us. But the idea isn't the same. You don't remember what you were going to say. You knew you had some good lines. You had a whole thought progression you wanted to take. But they aren't there anymore. You have words on paper. Now what?

Now what?! Now you write your story! It sucks you lost the spark. Having that feeling of inspiration along with that major motivation is awesome. But sometimes it just isn't there. Tough luck. You still have to write.

Here's the thing though. The story you were going to write a week ago is gone. You can't reclaim it. All you have is the story you write today. Do not try to reclaim those lost lines. They're lost. Make up new ones. You will. You always have something worth saying.

You may end up saying the same thing with different words. You may end up saying something completely different. I know I've done both of those things.

Writing is very much about the thoughts that come to you while you are putting down words. It may change from day to day, or even hour to hour. Maybe if you started writing at 9:00 instead of 10:00, you would have come up with a completely different story. There's no way to know for sure. But it doesn't matter. Write what you write. If you don't like it, change it. If you want to give it a second shot, do so. Writing is a serial act, so there's always a next time.