Draft Dodger
In regards to the last post on boundaries in blogging and what we don’t say, I often do write and post something else when I am leaving something out, but the other thing I do is to write the post I want to write and leave it in draft form. There are hundreds of completed posts just sitting in my draft folder, serving to record a moment, get feelings off my chest. I write them knowing full well that they’ll never be posted. I sometimes cannibalize them later for a different post, but stop short of posting them in full.
I’m sure other people do this too.
Yes? Is your draft folder as full as mine?
My question is, if there were only two options–pretend there is a glitch in blogging software and either have all of your draft posts instantly publish to your blog or have all of your draft posts forever lost (without the opportunity to back them up anywhere else), which would you choose? In other words, would you rather have your private journal posted for the world to read, or lose those private journals?
I struggle with this because while I write those posts never intending for them to be read despite going back and editing and polishing them, I think I would rather post them than lose those thoughts from those times.
25 comments
That is a really hard question. I think I would have to say lose them because the reason they’re in my draft folder is often that my story overlaps with another’s. It would be awful but I’d rather lose them than overstep boundaries with a person in my life.
I tend to write these things on paper, in my diary-type journal.
And I wound not want THAT published!
I can’t really answer this question, because I have a different take on things. If I have drafts in my folder, it’s by mistake. I have learned in my lifetime that if you don’t want someone to read your words, you’d better not write them down. So, I’d say that the drafts in your folder are just waiting for the time when you feel that it’s safe/right/important for others to read them. They are not things that you never intend to publish…they are just waiting for the right time and place. (and by you, I mean you and everyone else who has drafts that are unpublished for one reason or another)
I’d lose them. So often what is in my drafts folder is not the best of me, it’s the angry, small, petty part of me that I don’t want people to really see.
I try to be honest, but not too honest. I could probably do with more honesty.
Maybe I’m just a weird blog-poster, but I always write my posts in a separate journal and then copy/paste them into my blog when I’m ready to publish. Or … if I already have one written that I feel like publishing when I’m away, then I’ll copy/paste them into my blog and schedule it to publish at a certain date.
Honestly, I almost never write posts I don’t intend to go up ASAP. I might jot notes in a draft but almost never a complete post. MY venting (when I can’t post it) goes into the ears of a select few people.
I have only once written a draft post. I usually just sit down, write, and move on.
I’m a rebel! 😉
I’m with Heather!
I usually write and then post, although I’m starting to work on drafts. Still – I tend to only write what I want to share with the world. Even if sometimes I’m a horrible person.
I do the same thing. In fact, I just took out a ton of entries and “unpublished them”. I just felt like I needed a new start and a new perspective. They remain there, for my sons and me to read at a later time, but wow. I wrote a lot when they were tiny and boy did I have rose colored glasses on. I just did.
So now, I write and a lot of times, it sits there, waiting for photos to be taken, a Co-blogger to add to the mix, or something. Most of the time the posts make it to publishing. Guest and Co bloggers, always.
I just wrote something the other day, when the Census lady came and asked such personal questions of me and my sons “are they your husband’s biological children? Are they yours?” For real, I was so taken aback by how personal… there is not a day that goes by that I am not reminded of the fact that, no, I am not these kids’ biological mother. My husband has the luxury of taking his DNA for granted. I don’t and it hits home at the hospital where the boys are treated and also, with random stuff like this Census thing. Since we are frequently recounting medical/pregnancy history it is mindblowing to me.
I wrote that post and then saved it to draft. I guess so later on, I could show it to the boys, and they could know that not a day went by when I didn’t think about their biomom, surrodad, and their halfsibs. I am constantly reminded and it can be bittersweet. Which is why I deleted the entry.
Gah — what an awful choice! I think I’d go with publish, rather than losing them. I’ve got several unpublished drafts that I wrote and decided against, half-wrote, or the moment simply passed before I could publish them. But, even in their fragments, there is a truth. I think perhaps a more realistic depiction of me could be found by putting together both my published and unpublished writing. And, for me, that’s a lot better than “losing” those real, if painful, parts of my history. I can’t stand it when people idealize their lives — even though I am guilty of it to an extent. I want to know that I’m not the only marriage that struggles, that I’m not the only one feeling the insanity of IF, that I’m not the only one thinking these terrible thoughts and judging myself needlessly for them. So, I guess I’m saying I’d rather have all my imperfections out there for the world to see than have only “my” idealized version of the truth remain.
I’d lose them forever. For me, sometimes writing it out is a way to get it out of my system, to release it. Once I’ve written something, the problem (if there was one) loses it’s grip – or at least it’s intensity. If I didn’t hit publish, it’s likely something that would have hurt me or someone I love to have out in public. It’s also why I don’t keep drafts…
That’s a tough choice…but I would rather lose them.
I don’t have several drafts sitting on my blogger/mail account, and if it is too sensitive, I did rather not post it at all. Sometimes, I post stuff without identifying and pointing who I am referring to or what specific relationship I share with them. That anonymity affords me some posting leeway, but as such…I would stop short.
I would post them. In a heartbeat. They may only be half formed thoughts, but they are still my thoughts… I would never want to lose them! I have anxiety attacks about losing any of my documents actually!
This is a tough question. I have 18 posts in my drafts folder. I tend to just write and publish and deal with the consequences later. But for me I think there is some level of Rebel association since I don’t have close friends and family that know I “own” my blog. So I feel as though my anonymity affords me more creative freedom.
That being said, I’d probably just wish to have everything published. There are few times that I write something without the intent of having it seen by my followers in the blogosphere.
I don’t tend to have much in my drafts folder. It might be notes or a reminder of something I want to post about, but even then I get side-tracked and post about something else. Anything I post, I know I have to stand by if someone I included in the post reads it. So, anything I feel shouldn’t be out there, I just don’t ‘write down’ but instead vent it w/ the Bff or HunHun.
um, um…I’ll think about it and answer later. Because I don’t know what I’d want to do. I would hate to lose those words, but what if I knew they would hurt someone or make me look Unlikeable..or silly or blonde or ……
I just don’t know…yet.
Wow, what a great question! And scary…I don’t use my draft folder…I have always been a journal-er so write my deepest thoughts & feelings there…but to either have it all posted or lose it all forever? That’s so hard!!! Part of me feels that I would rather have it all posted than to lose it all…but on the other hand, went it’s a venting entry, I can be mean knowing it will never be read, so if it was posted, people could get hurt which I would never want to do…that’s why I write it privately! I don’t know…
A few years ago before blogging was big, I had a blog. I thought I was the only one looking at it. It was very unfiltered to say the least. Then one day I found out an elderly lady I hghly respected was reading it. From that day forward I had two blogs – one for me and one for the world. My private blog comes via text files each titled with a date and a topic. Occasionally I read them alongside my public blog so get some context behind some of the choices I made. I don’t say everything off the top of my head to people just becasue they have ears so I don’t write everything out in public just because I have a blog.
Why does it have to be an either/or? Save them to a thumb drive and clear out the draft folder.
I would prefer to have them published. When things are in my drafts folder it’s usually because they are too revealing about me, or because I couldn’t find the “perfect” words to express what I wanted to say. To be honest, I would probably be mostly embarrassed at the quality of the writing than at the sentiments expressed.
I haven’t gotten to the point where I’m truly honest enough with my feelings to start blogging drafts of actual feelings. I edit my thoughts as I type my entries, knowing that they will be published and seen by anyone. I may to let more out as I become more comfortable with blogging.
My drafts are posts that are incomplete. When I want to write something without making it public, I make my post private.
You’re asking me *that*?
It would depend on the consequences. If it was going to seriously hurt someone, then I’d have to take the hit. But in general, probably I’d go with publish.
Bea
And yes, my draft folder has a few items, too.
Bea
I’d be fine with losing my personal journal. I’d be sad, but I’d rather lose it than have it posted for the world to see. Some of my most emotional and cathartic writing is done in a very private journal – never intended for others to see. And often after I’ve written the things I’ve written I feel differently about the events or issues that transpired and I’d hate for someone to read my personal journal “in the moment” feelings and take them literally or out of context. Yikes.