As a writer, it’s never fun to scrap a passage, let alone one hundred pages or even a finished but flawed draft. Today’s post is a reminder to all of us that, frustrating as that situation may be, all is not lost when we find ourselves thinking, “This thing I wrote is pure garbage!”

If you get nothing out of this post, remember this:

Always, ALWAYS save copies of everything you write. Every scene you delete. Every beginning you change or toss out.

Now, “scrapping” a draft, chapter, or scene might mean different things to different people. It might mean not using something in a final draft. It might mean never trying to get a particular novel published because you can’t see the work getting to where it needs to be, quality-wise, no matter how much time you spend tinkering with it.

Again: all is not lost. There are many…