Am I just getting old?

[SamScribble]

Like most authors, I occasionally start a story that, for various reasons, gets ‘parked’.

I usually try to get back to the parked story at the first opportunity. But, sometimes, the ‘first’ opportunity is a week or two, or a month or two, down the track. Today, I went back to a unfinished story that had been parked for more than a year. (I had just forgotten all about it.)

I’m not sure who wrote the story that I read today, but it was very good. There were several believable and engaging characters. There were plausible situations. There was grown-up sex. And – and this was the bit that really surprised me – there were more than a few lines that made me not just smile but laugh out loud. The fact that I can’t remember how it is supposed to finish is a bit of a worry, but ….

So, my question is: do you girls and boys sometimes write something that you don’t remember writing? Or am I getting old beyond all redemption?

 

[Handley_Page]

Like most authors, I occasionally start a story that, for various reasons, gets ‘parked’.

So, my question is: do you girls and boys sometimes write something that you don’t remember writing? Or am I getting old beyond all redemption?

You too huh ?
We're getting old, my friend.

 

[TxRad]

I have 321 unfinished Lit stories.

But I do remember where I was going and how they were supposed to end. Sometimes when i get a chance to work on one, that may change. For the worse or the better? How the hell should I know.

Occasionally I'll get to one and ask myself what the hell was I thinking. That story usually goes to the trash pile to be dissected for parts and pieces. It's not because it is a bad story, it's just not up to what i think i should be writing. I could probably salvage it but why with so many unfinished stories in line.

 

[oggbashan]

It happens to me sometimes.

But my festering heap of unfinished stories includes some more than a decade old. Although I haven't counted must be something like TxRad's number.

Also like him, some of the heap are beyond redemption and ideas/scenes have been reused in other stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

All the time. In fact last week my publisher gave me access to a European site I'm listed on so I can add my own books there and a few other people's work(I help her out in exchange for free covers) I'm scrolling down the list of sales and I see a cover and title and say "Huh, that looks kind of interesting"

I click on it and its mine. It was a hot wife E-book I did and only last March so its not ancient history.

I think it just gets to a point you can only store so much in conscious memory and if you're always writing new things, something has to get pushed out.

My wife has a running joke that anytime she has to learn something new it forces out more cheesy 80's song lyrics she's has stored up there for the last thirty years.

 

[holliday1960]

So, my question is: do you girls and boys sometimes write something that you don’t remember writing? Or am I getting old beyond all redemption?

Aw, Sam, you're not 'old'... Vintage, maybe...but old, never! You have what is called 'selective memory'. It's caused from lack of oxygen...you have to remember to breathe, baby! And yes, panting counts as breathing, sugar. So, get busy writing something that makes us all pant...it improves memory.

 

[legerdemer]

All the time. In fact last week my publisher gave me access to a European site I'm listed on so I can add my own books there and a few other people's work(I help her out in exchange for free covers) I'm scrolling down the list of sales and I see a cover and title and say "Huh, that looks kind of interesting"

I click on it and its mine. It was a hot wife E-book I did and only last March so its not ancient history.

I think it just gets to a point you can only store so much in conscious memory and if you're always writing new things, something has to get pushed out.
...

Yea, I think you in particular, Mr. Prolific, but Sam and Tx as well, and a few others I can think of but won't list here, may have that problem.

Those of us who have more modest outputs have no problem remembering stories we wrote. I doubt it's a problem of age. I think it's a problem of overabundance. Can you tell I'm a little jealous (but in a good way) ?

 

[oggbashan]

My worst example is posting two versions of the same story a few months apart:

On 10 April 2014 I posted:
https://www.literotica.com/s/escaping-cybele

And on 14 July 2014 I posted:
https://www.literotica.com/s/limit-of-authority

My excuse is that I had upgraded computers between those dates. After I had transferred all the files I found an incomplete version of Escaping Cybele that I thought I hadn't posted, so I finished it in a slightly altered way.

Oops!

I have left both as a reminder to myself to check what I have already posted before submitting a new story. I'm not sure which version is best. I did the same thing some years earlier by posting a story as jeanne_d_artois and as oggbashan but I deleted the duplicate.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Yea, I think you in particular, Mr. Prolific, but Sam and Tx as well, and a few others I can think of but won't list here, may have that problem.

Those of us who have more modest outputs have no problem remembering stories we wrote. I doubt it's a problem of age. I think it's a problem of overabundance. Can you tell I'm a little jealous (but in a good way) ?

This. I look forward to a year when I have time to write so much stuff I lose track of it. Sheesh. Are you all independently wealthy or some such?

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Milton Erickson MD earned 3 college degrees simultaneously: BA, MA, and MD

More:He was disabled with polio and had no financial assistance.

He trained himself to study while sleeping. His GPA was 4.0 at U of Wisconsin.


What Sam reports isn't common but happens. I attribute the process to conditions that make some savants. A savant is a NATURAL talent.

ERICKSON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPqOOPb39s&t=106s

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have a couple of hundred stories I started and for some reason ran out of words and went on to something else. But like Txrad, I remember where each is heading and how they were supposed to end. Although, some, after reading what I have, the middle and end might change without notice.

But, do I forget what I wrote? In some cases, but I have the words sitting there in front of me, I don't have to remember what I wrote, just what was to come.

Although, I do forget what I went to the store for sometimes.

 

[weftandwarp]

I have only 4 stories that have been parked.
I think it's a function of what we think that we become old. I lot of people seem to limit their lives as age encroaches. I bought a farm. Some thing to do.
I've also reviewed the calendar. 365 seems ridiculous and every so often 366- equally ridiculous. Every thing else is metric here, why not the calendar? There are now 1,000 days in my year. It's sensibly retrospective. Now, the math is difficult- I suffer from mathrheumatics but being a teen, or perhaps in my twenties- I'm not sure and don't really care, I've learned to drive a tractor, sewn a crop and reaped it and I feel good. My life has purpose like never before.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[sr71plt]

Other than my current work in progress, I don't have any unfinished stories in a files somewhere, but I do occasionally open up a book/story without realizing that I wrote it.

 

[TxRad]

Holy crap, is this typical for a lot of writers? Now, I'm embarrassed!

Back in my teens and early twenties, I stopped and started a lot of "novels" (and I am using that term very loosely here), but ever since I got serious about writing, I find that I don't start a story unless I intend to finish it. I might have multiple projects going at once--up to five--but a 321 story backlog? God almighty, that would drive me up the wall.

Every since I got my first novel published, I haven't had much time for Lit stories. I'll start one and then a mainstream project gets in the way. I tell myself, ok, I'll get back to this. That doesn't work. I only have so much time. I work on a lot of them from time to time when i need a break from the writing J.O.B that is mainstream.

One day, I keep telling myself but.... Plot bunnies can get knee deep at times.

 

[49greg]

Yeah, me too. I've got lots of stories that I started and never finished. On every one of them I thought I would get back to it right away. Some are years old. Ditto with many many ideas/outlines. I was going through unfinished stories and outlines the other day, and there are some that I have no recollection of at all. I've even got some that I can't understand how I ever thought they were worth starting in the first place.

I blame lipitor.

 

[weftandwarp]

I blame lipitor.[/QUOTE]

Funny. Thank you

I'm allergic to it. Of all the people I've known to be on it, I'm the only one I know who is allergic to it.

 

[oggbashan]

...

One day, I keep telling myself but.... Plot bunnies can get knee deep at times.

I sometimes use up plot bunnies in my sets of fifty-word stories. 15 x 50-words = 750 words, Lit's submission minimum and I've used 15 plot bunnies.

They still keep breeding.

 

[holliday1960]

I blame lipitor.

Funny. Thank you

I'm allergic to it. Of all the people I've known to be on it, I'm the only one I know who is allergic to it.[/QUOTE]

You are not the only one, WW. I know someone else they almost killed with it. She is also allergic to Benedryl, the very thing they give you for allergic reactions. I dont know how many people know this, but FYI, over the counter sleeping pills are/have the exact same ingredients as Benedryl. Found that out the hard way when her doctor suggested giving her otc sleeping pills for the insomnia associated with dementia. BIG mistake! (sorry...back to topic of antiquities...)

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

I've been jumping between my old computer tower and a new one simply because I can't read WORDS in this new one. So the few stories I have unfinished are partially readable and partially in Braiile or whatever.
Lately I've been doing my writting in my head while laying in bed wishfully sleeping. Which brings up another thing, Benedryl. I already take a sleeping pill to help me sleep, which works for about two hours, an hour after I've gone to bed. Now one of my doctors added two Benedryl tablets. I had no idea that the main ingrediant in Benedryl and it's 100 generic other choices causes drowziness and sleep.

A week after I found this out several friends told me they are also on a Benedryl type pill for sleep and now I read it here. Why do I find everything out after the fact?

I still don't sleep worth a crap and keep dreaming up more stories that I'm too drowzy to write. The trouble is I may have already written them and lost them in my well kept folders.

 

[holliday1960]

We all need to start reading ingredient labels more often I guess!

 

[NOIRTRASH]

One or two solve the problem writing the same story 952 times.

 

[sr71plt]

One or two solve the problem writing the same story 952 times.

Which would be one more erotic story than you've ever managed to write. You're busy trying to mimic Chandler. You're such a dipshit, James. You crave my attention.

That's how many threads you've invoked me out of the blue today?

 

[purpletoffee]

So, my question is: do you girls and boys sometimes write something that you don’t remember writing? Or am I getting old beyond all redemption?

Um, I forget. Why am I here?

 

[TxRad]

Um, I forget. Why am I here?

You're asking us? Like we know why we're here.