26: First Drafts
3/1/2012
It’s been almost three months since I’ve written any Batu related material. And what’s really odd is that I not only stopped in the middle of scene three of “The Kulu”, but was mid-dialogue as well, which would be easy to pick up on.
So, I’m not sure what happened to keep me from getting back on track. Christmas, reading, other writing projects. I started another story: “You and Me”, about an alternate version of my life starting at age 16 and wrote 99 pages of it so far. Not sure if I’ll continue it or not. And I also wrote a 150-page letter last month to Gale – the longest letter I’ve yet written. Also read a few books. So, it’s not as if I’ve done nothing, just nothing Batu related.
I got back into it today, however. Rewriting and putting the final touches on the first draft of “The Song of Alodia.” This will be my best stand-alone showcase piece of Batu material that will be completed in a readable form and am eager to get it done.
I should point out here, there are no literal “first drafts” of any of my work in my possession, because I rewrite everything so much – starting out on scratch paper that I save for that purpose – and all the early drafts gets flushed down the toilet as soon as I write a better version. And there’s no way for me to recall how many incarnations it went through before reaching the “first draft” I haven’t flushed. Plus, my main narrative is already largely worked out in the scene outline, itself having gone through a half dozen or more rough drafts.
This current draft of “The Song of Alodia” had two prior incarnations that I thought were finished “first drafts” when I was done with them. What “first draft” really means for me is that I’m ready to file it away and call it done until someone else reads and critiques it for me.
Present-Day Reflection
6/20/2026
I do have several first drafts preserved that really are first drafts, but I only started to occasionally set such things aside well after I wrote this entry from March of 2012. Probably more often when I was in my zone and things were coming together relatively easy for me. As if to hold onto that mental space so I might tap back into it again at a later date.
Part of it was also for future nostalgia and my legacy archives as well. I’ve always been nostalgic and sentimental. I’m still holding onto sketches and doodles I did back in grade school when I was eight years old, always daydreaming while ignoring my teacher and her assignments. So, I guess it was inevitable that I’d eventually start saving certain chapters of my Batu work as well, showcasing their evolution from half-baked dribblings on scratch paper to final drafts.
I didn’t save a lot. Maybe a half-dozen or so chapters, at the most. Just enough to see how my process has evolved over the years.
