Scholars can’t agree whether
Michelangelo’s sculptural creation is a David or an Apollo - but they all agree
that, for whatever reason, it wasn’t finished. They’re not sure why.
Although it’s considered one of
his best works, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as
Raphael left sixteen sections of
the painting Transfiguration unfinished
when he died. Assistants had to finish some of the figures at the lower left.
The Cathedral of Saint John The Divine in upper Manhattan is
one of the largest cathedrals in the world, but that doesn’t mean it’s
complete. Construction began in 1892 and was on-again, off-again. It’s still
missing its spires.
A watercolor portrait of President Roosevelt by Elizabeth
Shoumatoff was painted on April 12, 1945 at Roosevelt’s Georgia retreat. The
duo took a break for lunch, where the President complained, “I have a terrific
pain in the back of my head.” He slumped in his chair and was soon declared
dead from a stroke. Shoumatoff later finished a second version, but the
original remains incomplete.
When I
started this post there were eighty-nine draft posts awaiting my attention in my blogsite. The
number comes up like a blue light special every time I look at my post list.
* Most of
the posts shouldn’t be finished. Some of those I trash after review but others get to live
for
another day.
* Some of
them have potential.
* A few of
them will become full-blown posts - masterpieces-in-waiting.
Here’s a
way you can use your unfinished posts with potential.
Take four or five of your
best “undeveloped ideas” and offer them up in a post for someone else to finish for you. Write
one or two paragraphs per idea. Adopt them out to others. Entitle the post
- “Ideas Waiting To Grow Up” or “Posts That One Day Will See The Light.” Your
unfinished work could become someone else’s symphony.
I riffle
through all of my published posts that are over a year old at least once a
month, keeping an eye out for ones that could be updated and re-posted.
One
Friday a month I review the unpublished ones that should become full-blown posts.
More than once I’ve been surprised to find a forgotten gem. I either complete
it and publish it or make a simple edit and save it so that it moves to the top
of my unpublished list as a reminder.
Now there are only eight-eight drafts as this writing exercise helped me make some tangible
progress.
