All writers have a process that allows them to create. However, the art of "Writing" is often mistaken for that "Process." Hopefully this blog explains the difference, and inspires people to develop their crafts, become writers, or just keep on writing.

Friday, January 31, 2025

A Little Something About Documentation

I had the privilege to see the Orphan Train display today - a traveling exhibit discussing the many thousands of abandoned children who were sent from the big cities to the Midwest and even further in the name of finding homes. This was a project that started in the 1850s but actually continued into the 20th century, and these children had every story imaginable. Some of these orphans were listed as foundlings, others lost their parents through more conventional ways such as cholera and gangrene (this was before medicine was really popular), and plenty were given up because of crushing poverty. My great-great-grandfather was (likely) one of these children, and actually maintained some writings about his experiences and stories from back in the 1870s - a priceless trove of information that became a treasured family heirloom.

Sure enough, someone threw those letters away.

Probably my great-great-grandfather
Now did my likely great-great-grandfather (ask me about the "likely" part later) have any idea that these correspondences with his lost family would become such valuable pieces for me four generations later? In all likelihood, no. He just happened to have the good fortune to be literate and the concern for the rest of his known family, and managed to stay in touch. However, as time went on, future generations would express an interest that he may have never expected. His simple letters became a window into another world that I might have a genealogical tie to (or possibly not). More to the point, his story as one of the Orphan Train passengers was contained at least in part within those papers. A part of me died a little when I discovered those letters were tossed into the trash.

Now, as writers, we have a certain obligation to hold on to our writing as well. Even if we merely write fiction and don't connect our words to the real world, our creations still show the world something about our real selves. My first stories were atrocious, hands down. They stunk on ice. However, that's the beauty of re-reading them. Those horrible stories show a stage in my humble, stunted progress as a writer, and offered a little insight into just what I was overcoming with my creative shortcomings. If anything, those crappy write-ups were priceless in that they would let anyone know that no matter how horrible they felt they were, they just needed time to improve.

And if you also keep journals - please hold on to them. Maybe you will never revisit them again, but the information they offer into the development of your writing process is irreplaceable. More importantly, journals and personal writings from any particular point in time give an unvarnished look at that period. My father's journals are priceless in that regard, mostly because I can see a person I could never know, read about stories that changed over the years, and get a better understanding of him growing up in the early 1950s - a world he didn't talk about much when I was young and never talks about now, mostly because he's dead.

I recently finished reading a special print of Conrad's Hearts of Darkness that included the author's notes in the margins. The book has so much more depth when it is seen along with Conrad's creation process and everything he did and didn't feel about different scenes. None of that insight would be available if he just tossed his old notes, so to him I say thank you.

And to you, let me thank you in advance for never deleting your Word files; even the ones with embarrassingly bad writing. Generations from now, people might just learn a thing or two from them.         

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