We are told by the old saying 'Those that don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it.'
Or something along those lines.
No, I didn't look it up.
I get sidetracked enough. Which is not always a bad thing, can find really neat things on off-shoots and side-tracks. But can also find yourself far from home, so far from home it can be difficult to find your way back to your story line.
And find all sorts of things popping up in your head. Like remembering the past. Where's the cross over line where remembering the past becomes too much reliving the past and keeps people from moving on with the life they have now?
Remembering has different functions I suppose. Warnings to not repeat things that did not work in the past to warnings to signs of things going awry while still have time to do something and alter the outcome. Hopefully.
Remembering also helps to remind us how far we've come. Which can be encouraging. Especially as writers. Helps sometimes to see all the words we've accumulated, when all we see is how far we have to go.
And helps to see how much better writers we are today than we were yesterday.
So remembering the past has it's purpose. Keeps us going forward, hopefully.
And keeps us going as writers, since there's always wonderful stories in the past. I didn't say happy stories, although hopefully everyone has those, but also wonderful interesting stories.
And learning how as writers to tell those wonderful stories in our own unique ways. But also learning how to leave the past behind when we need to and live our 'real' present lives as fully and happily as we can.
So I guess that's the line for remembering the past. And knowing how to draw that line. And when.
Or something along those lines.
No, I didn't look it up.
I get sidetracked enough. Which is not always a bad thing, can find really neat things on off-shoots and side-tracks. But can also find yourself far from home, so far from home it can be difficult to find your way back to your story line.
And find all sorts of things popping up in your head. Like remembering the past. Where's the cross over line where remembering the past becomes too much reliving the past and keeps people from moving on with the life they have now?
Remembering has different functions I suppose. Warnings to not repeat things that did not work in the past to warnings to signs of things going awry while still have time to do something and alter the outcome. Hopefully.
Remembering also helps to remind us how far we've come. Which can be encouraging. Especially as writers. Helps sometimes to see all the words we've accumulated, when all we see is how far we have to go.
And helps to see how much better writers we are today than we were yesterday.
So remembering the past has it's purpose. Keeps us going forward, hopefully.
And keeps us going as writers, since there's always wonderful stories in the past. I didn't say happy stories, although hopefully everyone has those, but also wonderful interesting stories.
And learning how as writers to tell those wonderful stories in our own unique ways. But also learning how to leave the past behind when we need to and live our 'real' present lives as fully and happily as we can.
So I guess that's the line for remembering the past. And knowing how to draw that line. And when.
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