On my podcast, The Writers’ Block, I talked about this concept I termed ‘the Draft-Drawer’. In this space, we writers keep everything! Old work. New work. Research pieces. Random scraps of work and the things you were too scared to think would become anything! Think of the Draft-Drawer as a catch all, or a junk drawer. Like with all junk drawers, it needs to be cleaned out every now and then.

Make no mistake, your Draft-Drawer can be anywhere! It can be a literal drawer in a physical desk, a file folder in a box, or a folder on your smartphone or other voice recorder. Don’t be afraid to look at what you have started or created.

Let me say it again: Don’t be afraid to look at what you have started or created.

The work you want, you may have already started. It may be something a small as a title, an old magazine or short story. It may already be there! The work you want may just be at your fingertips. How great is that!

Be brave.

I know it can be hard, because there and can be deep emotion attached to what you may find. Yet, you must be brave. You must face what is there–if you can, you have no idea what you will unlock.

Pick up your key.