I Need A Better System

Or an assistant. Or an editor. Or some software to keep track of what I’ve written and what I haven’t.

I just spent the better part of an hour writing a really good piece about a certain topic. Not a great piece, mind you, but a pretty good one. Not anything I was going to be sending out when I apply to Clarion, but not anything I was going to be ashamed about.

I proofed it, made a couple of changes. Just before I hit the big, blue “Publish” button, I stopped, something nagging at my brain. Something about one of the phrases and metaphors I had used sounded familiar…

I saved the draft and went hunting. Fortunately, with everything being electronic and WordPress having some good search and editing tools built in, it only took a minute to find what my subconscious had been nagging me about.

Almost the exact same article, written about four months ago.

On the one hand, consistency is a marvelous thing. Upon closer examination, there were whole paragraphs that were about 80% identical. The layout and flow of the entire article was the same. A couple of the new snarky comments were better than the old ones, but several of the old ones were pretty good too.

But it was all useless. Publishing it would have proven nothing other than the fact that I need to keep a closer eye on symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer’s. (Just kidding — I think.)

So, making lemons out of lemonade, it’s time to think about upping my game and getting a bit more organized here.

Any other bloggers out there having this issue and have any suggestions on software or a system to watch out for this sort of thing in the future? Suggestions in the comments would be appreciated.

However, no need to suggest that I simply pull my head out of my ass. I’ve already figured that one out on my own, thanks!