Writers can treat unfinished drafts as pending work rather than failures.

Evidence

I have ninety-seven notebooks in a wooden box. I do not count them as suppressed volumes. I work on the principle that there is no failed work, only work pending: that there is nothing I won’t say, only what I haven’t said yet. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 65

Categorization

• XREF: XREF: Connects Mantel’s fiction-writing method to her deep concern with the historical pressure of truth and censorship. — connects to: Writers secretly want interruption to rescue them from their own stalled work — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 42; Stale, forgotten ideas are the raw material that germinates new writing — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 965; A story’s theme often emerges only after a year of drafting — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide…, 653 (+4 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 65

Broader Connections

• Stale, forgotten ideas are the raw material that germinates new writing #expands (0.80) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 965
• Writers secretly want interruption to rescue them from their own stalled work #expands (0.75) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 42
• A story’s theme often emerges only after a year of drafting #corroborates (0.60) — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 653