Recycle

One of my goals in 2009 involves recycling . . . but not of the variety you are probably thinking about (though I do that, too). Rather, my goal this year is to reread a few dozen stories and articles that I have written in past years and try to rewrite, redo, and recycle them for publication. I have large stacks of writing in my closet, far too many manuscripts to sort through in a year, and I have hundreds of floppy disks filled with an assortment of essays and stories of every variety that I hope to crack open.

What I'm discovering is another writer--some guy who was writing some of this stuff when he was twenty-five, thirty, or thirty-five years old. Most of the time, I don't recall even writing the piece, but I must have. My name is on the manuscript after all, and, as far as I know, there are no manuscript leprechauns.

This could be a fun or tedious year. I will withhold judgment until I discover the one diamond in the rough that will make me ask, "Wow, did I write that?"