Tuesday Tip: Recycled Writing

We do it with peanut butter jars, old T-shirts, and even leftovers. When they've served their purpose they get recycled, reused, reworked into something fresh and new.

We can do that with our writing too! Here are a few suggestions for getting the most out of your old (or not so old) writing:

• Old manuscripts that don't seem to be working can be picked apart so that you can use their good parts in another story.
• Non-fiction articles can be transformed into completely new pieces. A long article about arctic foxes can be reworked into a list of fox facts, or a short filler.
• Take info from articles and work it into puzzles to fit magazine theme lists (great for kids' magazines).
• Sell old pieces as reprints.
• Got a picture book manuscript that doesn't seem to be catching on? With a little tweaking, you can turn it into a magazine story.
• Use the info from a nonfiction piece (animal, person from history?) to write a fact-based picture book or magazine story.

Remember, just because an article or story has been published doesn't mean its life is over. Make the most out of every bit of writing you do!