What 359 Undeletable Drafts Have Revealed to Me

I realized that I have 359 drafts in my note (with 330 articles published). It has been almost 8 months since I started note. I was surprised myself to find that I have more drafts than published articles. I'd like to talk a little about how I deal with these drafts.

I didn't know that the number of draft articles was displayed; did you know? (I learned about it from Kotobato-san who told me. Thank you.)

If you open note on the web and go to "My Articles" -> "Publishing Status" -> "Drafts," it will appear.

I used to calculate the number of posts per month by adding them up with a calculator, but I found out that it appears when you select "Published."

By the way, I was curious about how many drafts everyone else had, so I asked. Kotobato-san has 1, and Shiina Otowa-san has 2.

Wow, that's so clean and nice.

That was my first thought. I mean, of course, you only really look at the ones displayed at the top, right? But for some reason, I can't delete them. It feels like deleting a diary. But at this rate, it will stay cluttered forever.

Alright, I'm going to delete them, delete them all, delete everything!

Hmm... but I also feel like I want to keep them. The drafts show the date and time, so I look at them and think, 'Oh, I was trying to write about this back then.' It's basically a diary now.

Isn't it hard to throw away a diary? I find it quite difficult, and it took me years to finally throw mine away.

But still, there's no point in keeping them, is there? (Ah, I'm looking for meaning again. That's my habit.) I want to delete them. Hmm, but I don't want to delete them yet. That's how my indecisive morning goes. I need to look for something more important than meaning.

Well, whatever. I'll delete them someday. (Someday?) Hmm? Not right now, but someday, you know. Because I'm not in the mood for it right now, so it can't be helped. Yeah, someday, definitely someday.

My current feelings are more important than meaning. If I don't want to delete them right now, I'll just follow that feeling. Ah, drafts aren't trash. They are packed with my 'in-progress' thoughts. I want to value the process and keep the history of my thinking. I can delete them someday. The fact that I'm keeping them because I don't want to delete them might just be a sign that I want to value the process of creating an article for now.

...So, my drafts keep increasing today as well. And maybe that's okay. 'Keeping them.' That is what I want to do right now.

Finally, there is something I really want to say. It's a story that those who know, know. There is even a red book by Shinsuke Yoshitake (The Official Catalog for the 'Maybe It Was This Way' Shinsuke Yoshitake Exhibition). It's okay to keep them if you want to. While writing this, I felt that way somehow.

You don't have to force yourself to throw away things you don't want to discard. Even if something looks useless to others, a treasure is a treasure in any form—that's what this book made me think.

Writing Club prompt: 'Tell us! Your draft situation'