What My Saved Drafts Say About Me

It’s a little bit of a roller coaster if we’re being honest

Sometimes people ask me “how do you get your ideas?” Just the other day I was texting with a friend who asked me where I come up with all of the articles I write and send her.

It took me a second to think of an answer. I truly didn’t know, and I still don’t.

“Sometimes I will read something that another creator wrote and it’ll inspire an idea for me,” I ended up telling her. It’s not an untrue answer but it’s far more complicated than that.

Often times I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and have an idea bouncing around in my head. When that happens, I will usually put it in my Notes app on my phone or, what I’ve done more recently, I’ll start a New Story on Medium. Often times it’s just a title and maybe a subtitle, so the next morning is usually a little confusing.

For example, I have a draft saved that just says “Don’t @ Me" with absolutely no context.

I’m not exactly sure what my thought process was at one AM when I wrote that down but I’m afraid to discard it in case the idea comes back to me.

I have a lot of half-written articles, too, like “5 Reasons Why Nova Scotia Should Be On Your Travel Bucket List" and “Getting Laid Off Was a Blessing in Disguise.” I have the backbone of these articles written, but they need some more work that I haven’t had the motivation to give them. To put it simply, I lost interest in the topics because they were more relevant to me a few months ago than they are now.

My personal favorite draft title is “In Defense of Jan Levinson.” When I started rewatching “The Office” for the umpteenth time, I realized that Jan gets the short end of the stick for a lot of the show. Her character growth is not fully formed and the writers turn her into a caricature of a boss lady rather than a strong, independent, admirable woman. I decided I wanted to write an article about my very favorite “Office” lady and why I believe she deserved better, but again I just haven’t found the motivation to truly give it the attention it needs.

I regularly consider whether I should pursue a niche in my writing and focus on one specific area, but given all of my current drafts I don’t think that’s going to happen for me. I have so many different interests that I don’t think it would be possible for me to just choose one or two things to write about forever. Some writers excel in writing strictly about one topic, but I think I would get bored.

I don’t think I’m lazy, I think I end up having a lot of ideas all at once and get overwhelmed with where to start. I’ll certainly get around to finishing them all one day, it just probably won’t be today.

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