Never Throw Old Sketches

...old notes or even doodles, if they're good. The few tones that you played might be the beginning of a symphony, that odd little squiggle of a text is your bestseller in being, that causal meeting might be the beginning a great friendship... And I didn't throw this little thumbnail away, a one or two minute sketch, which I am working on now.

Where I am right now:

From this scrap of paper:

I've taken special care of the keys of Whatever-it-is. That's why I haven't got any further until it's time to call it a day, but as the Tao De Jing says:

Be as careful in the end as in the beginning, for a journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step.

Now, I don't live as I learn.

I've scrapped works before, promised the gentle reader that I'll finish next week etc. etc. and these things don't always happen. (Sorry!) Most sketches don't turn into masterworks (I'm happy if my sketches turn into works at all -- and that's better) and some don't turn into anything. You might get stuck, run out of time or energy, betray the work for another, whatever. Still...

...Never Throw Old Sketches.