Undiscovered Treasures

Great works can often go undiscovered because their creator chose not to finish them, decided they were not worthy, or simply moved on to other projects.

• For an artist, it can mean the discovery of paintings and sketches buried away in a trunk or storage space - or even uncovering an older painting underneath a new one where the artist reused the canvas.
• For a musician, it can mean the discovery of studio recordings for unreleased songs, early variations of well known songs, or notes on songs or lyrics.
• For a writer, it can mean the discovery of unfinished and unpublished books, stories, and manuscripts.

These undiscovered works are often treasures in their own right. They can also reveal information about the artist's evolution of thinking, influences, and experimental directions.

This made me think about what "undiscovered" works I may have lying around. There are some partially finished or barely started graphical and artistic ideas. There are notes for blog entries. The ideas that have rattled around in my head for years don't count because there is no tangible progress to discover.

Then it struck me - draft emails. In my job I communicate a lot over email. For any number of reasons, not every email I start composing gets sent.

What would someone uncover if they carried out an "archaeological dig" in my drafts folder? Inspirational words to change a life? Intellectual musings to change the world? Apparently not. Turns out almost all of my drafts fall into this category:

Perhaps that says everything it needs to about me.