My Brain is a Compost Heap

And no, I don’t mean a sewer, though anyone who’s been around me a while knows I spend lots of time in the gutter.

I was thinking of this today as I stumbled about YouTube looking for the music that Kolya will blast when he needs to escape. If you’re wondering why I’m poking at Kolya when I said I didn’t want to…well, it’s because I decided to work on Romeo, fanfic, and getting some bits and bobs done. So naturally I’m working on a major project, exactly what I decided against.

Anyway. My contrary muses aside, it occurred to me that the compost-heap analogy is a good one. When I started writing, I tried to throw in anything and everything that I liked. Apparently I was worried it was my only chance. Now I know I’ll be writing another book after this one (and another after that!), and if something doesn’t fit into what I’m doing now, odds are good I’ll find a perfect place later.

So, yeah–compost heap. Because you don’t throw garbage on a compost heap. You throw the unuseable-right-now bits. You pile them all together, you supply a good amount of moisture and air, you turn them about once in a while, and they meld and grow and change until you have an awesome, organic fertilizer that lets everything grow better than it would have without.

Figuring out that I can toss stuff for later has both good and bad sides. Editing is easier when I don’t have to cut out tons of stuff that shouldn’t have made it into the manuscript in the first place, but focusing is harder. Exactly what is a waste of my time?

Are you sure?

Fascinating articles on caves occupied five thousand years ago could easily have some bearing on something I will write eventually!

Also, here’s the Kolya playlist on YouTube. It may continue to grow, but hopefully not by too much more. (But suggestions are more than welcome!) (Also, warning for angst and loud. 😉 ) (Also, the videos are only there for the song–I didn’t even watch all of them. So my apologies if the images are awful/badly done/whatever.)