Photo by Sheree Shatsky c2024
I keep a Things to Do list taped to the kitchen cabinet above the toaster.
Every morning waiting for the raisin bread to pop, I review the list. I mark through completed tasks when accomplished. I do so enjoy the positive reinforcement of a Sharpie scribble through.
Clear photos has graced the list since early November 2024, a month known to writers as a generative writing month. I decided to use the time to clean up my tech, starting with moving photos off my phone to an external hard drive.
Those who know me realize this is a mind trick I use to prevent from becoming overwhelmed with tasks I refer to as itchy.
Start with the phone, then take on a second manageable tech task.
As much as I love technology, I abhor organizing the results.
I opened my photos to begin with the deletion of pet insurance claim screenshots and immediately started itching.
Clear photos with a swish of a bold underline remains undone as 2025 looms nigh.
I’m much better with text files. I simply create a folder with a no limits title like Literary and swipe swipe swipe, the desktop is organized.
My novella-in-flash Summer 1969 evolved as a result of an organization job well done.
During the sweep of work into the nebulous Literary file, I discovered a number of flash fiction stories that didn’t make the flashy craft cut into the literary mag world. The word length though, definitely met the word count criteria as flash and micro.
These scraps of work all had a 1960ish family energy vibe. I laughed while reading several. For me, laughing is a good sign of potential.
I got busy revising.
I submitted the completed Summer 1969 manuscript as an entry to the Bath Novella in Flash 2022 competition. The work made the shortlist and as a result, was offered publication by short short publisher Ad Hoc Fiction.
Thank you to all those involved in the prep from manuscript to final product. The cover is a ‘60s dream.
Summer 1969 was published May 15, 2023.
So, save those scraps.
I recently came across a video of the 1965 Bob Dylan press conference held in San Francisco.
Beginning at video marker 35:58, the then 24-year-old addressed questions about his process as a songwriter.
He elaborated on what he referred to as “scraps”, bits and pieces he wrote but did not publish. To paraphrase his answer to a direct question regarding these scraps, he never returned to them, he started over - from scratch, not scraps. This back and forth begins at video marker 40:08.
The source to both the scratchy YouTube and the Internet Archive audio can be found at the links below.
A press clipping from the S.F. Examiner is available through the Libraries | Digital Collections of Northwestern here.
Summer 1969 is available through Ad Hoc Fiction and Amazon.
Oh. The perforation edging Things to Do?
That’s the monthly calendar.
Itch, itch, scratch, scratch.
Happy 2025.
Bob Dylan - 1965-12-03 KQED TV Studios, San Francisco Press Conference
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Bob Dylan San Francisco Press Conference 1965
YouTube
“Dylan said he’ll know when to quit because “I’ll just start to itch and something goes through a terrifying turn and it has nothing to do with anything.”
Very inspiring!!! ✨️