Wrote Too Much? How to Take Inventory of Your Draft and Decide What Stays
Part Two of The Production Schedule
INTRODUCTION
Some of us write way too much, and I’m one of them. When I sit down to edit, I scroll and scroll, and it all feels important, so I don’t know where to start cutting. Sometimes I overshare and infodump, but I’ve recently realized that readers only need what’s necessary at the right moment, without drifting off or giving them information that isn’t relevant yet. In this post, I’ll share how I take inventory of a draft and decide what stays in it.
IS YOUR DRAFT TOO BIG?
In Part One of this series, we planned your book from the release date backward. Now, we’re taking a look at your Work-in-Progress (WIP) draft to see what stays and what goes.
This post is for you if:
It’s challenging to pick out the most important parts. You’re looking for the parts that stay on topic and move the content forward.
Some parts don’t fit the mold. Your draft has information that’s off topic, or that readers don’t need yet.
You write multiple genres and projects. You’ve realized you wrote about a fictional character inside your nonfiction book.
You overwrite. You’ve written way more than you needed, and it’s time to pare down your draft.
TAKE INVENTORY FIRST
When I write, I tend to overwrite. I often will write 5,000 words for a new idea or topic that I then have to organize and narrow down.
I like to think of revising and editing my drafts as a way of paring down. You go through what is there, chapter by chapter or paragraph by paragraph, and organize your content into four files: keep, relocate, repurpose, and remove.
The ‘keep’ file: For content that you know is relevant and will be needed.
The ‘relocate’ file: For content that belongs elsewhere.
The ‘repurpose’ file: For content that could be repurposed for another project.
The ‘remove’ file: For content that doesn’t belong in your current projects.
You keep only what you need for what you are working toward. After you’ve identified your goals, remember that what you need comes first, ahead of content that doesn’t make sense to include. Author Audrey Kalman suggests writing a short “My book is about” statement and testing each piece of your draft against it.
FINDING THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS
Start with your keep file. This is where your strongest parts go, the ones your reader needs and that move the content forward. I’m still learning what to keep. As long as it makes sense, can be “backed up,” is original, and stays on topic, it goes in my keep file.
When I write, I type in my signature color, orange. If I pull content from another source, I put it in red, so I know it needs to be reworded. Once I’ve reviewed something and feel good about putting it in, it turns black. That’s my line editing, which I share more about in Breaking the Ramble. Then I color-code by highlighting the actual content. Green is for content I know I want to keep, usually an entire section if possible. Light blue is for research, and yellow is for items I’m still reviewing or unsure of.
I’ll reread it several times over to make sure it’s what I want to say, and sometimes I need to reword it. When I have a messy draft, I’ll often start a new draft so I can move the content over into my most current keep file.
WHEN PARTS DON’T FIT THE MOLD
Once you know what you’re keeping, look for what’s in the wrong spot. Every time I start a new draft on a topic or idea, I write down everything I can think of that relates, but it might be out of order. I haven’t created an outline yet. I’m just getting the words down on the page.
My writing will veer off in another direction or to another idea that I have. It might be a new pain point, a new solution, a thought I had, or even an example of my own, and it ends up mixed in with something that doesn’t quite fit. This is the hardest part for me, getting my draft organized, because I don’t always have an outline before I draft.
Those pieces belong in the project. They’re just in the wrong spot, so they go in the relocate file until I find where they fit. Usually, I’ll start by adding headings for each section, which creates the outline. From there, I move the content into those sections and review each one to see if it flows. If I’m still stuck after going through my own passes, I sometimes get help from AI to reorganize the content.
Organization is key to the whole thing, because you have to “match things up” to where they belong. Audrey Kalman’s process starts the same way: gather and inventory your files so you know what you have before you decide where it goes.
If you struggle with this too, grab my free Writer’s Content Tracker, a simple spreadsheet that helps you keep track of what’s in each file and where it belongs.
WHEN YOUR PROJECTS GET MIXED TOGETHER
Some pieces don’t fit this project at all, but they still have a home somewhere. I have many projects going on that I’m slowly working through. I can never tackle one at a time, because I get bored or distracted with a new idea. So, my content ends up being a mixture of both fiction and nonfiction writing.
As I navigate fiction writing, I’m learning as I go. I’ll jot down something related to the craft of writing into a fiction story to help me remember it but then forget it’s there. When I go back and read through it, I realize I have to move it to the appropriate file. But I have so many files, it’s hard to get organized.
That writing doesn’t get wasted. It goes in the repurpose file, so it can move to the project where it belongs. Author Glynn Young encourages writers to save your editorial cuts. A Christmas story he cut from one manuscript was later revised and published in a magazine.
With every blog or article I write, I make a connection to something else I’ve written, whether it’s another blog or my upcoming book on writing. I’ve even used content from my blogs to write more in-depth about certain topics in the book. I repurpose content across multiple projects, and writing something twice or more helps me remember important concepts and information.
As writers, we can ask ourselves what we already have on hand. When you start a new project, go through your files. Mark and track what’s finished and checked, and leave alone anything meant for another project.
Your repurpose file is a good place to start. A tip or a scene you set aside from another project might be exactly what your new draft needs. Anything you’ve already highlighted in green has been reviewed, so it may be ready to use as it is.
CUTTING THE FLUFF
And some writing doesn’t need to stay anywhere. If a section is just “fluff” and feels like a ramble going on and on from different angles, try to find the 1 or 2 parts that move the content forward and fit the core topic. Novelist Larry Brooks calls overwriting the most common entry-level mistake, but he also warns against cutting so much that you lose your voice.
The parts you cut out don’t have to disappear forever. Put them in your remove file. Jamie Todd Rubin keeps a separate deleted scenes file for every story he writes.
BE YOUR OWN QUALITY CONTROL
Once your four files are sorted, check your work. We all know that the first draft isn’t the finished product. It’s the part waiting for inspection. For writers, that could mean taking the first, second, or even third draft and figuring out what will be kept in the next draft.
The writer should be the first quality control point, and later, editors will be involved in the QC process. So, before you send your draft to anyone, do your own quality control check and count what’s usable and what still needs some work.
Those who don’t do a thorough pass of editing and revisions will find that their reviews turn sour. It just looks unprofessional to publish when you haven’t done your review.
Grab my “Writer’s Quality Control Checklist,” where I explain how to Self-Edit and audit your work for a strong piece of writing.
READY TO TAKE INVENTORY?
Taking inventory of your draft means sorting each piece into your keep, relocate, repurpose, or remove file, and checking your own work before anyone else reads it.
I’m still testing what works for me. If something does work out for me, I’ll tell you all about it and help you in your own writing journey.
RESOURCES
11 Steps from Your Big Fat Mess to Your Next Draft – Jane Friedman, Audrey Kalman, February 18, 2026
Breaking the Ramble: How to Line-Edit Your First Draft Into Clean Prose – Inspire Books Blog, Jacquelyn Lee, June 12, 2026
Save Your Editorial Cuts and Deleted Scenes – American Christian Fiction Writers, Glynn Young, August 7, 2024
The Most Common Entry-Level Mistake in the Writing Game – Jane Friedman, Larry Brooks, April 12, 2017
Fire Your Darlings, Don’t Kill Them – Jamie Todd Rubin’s Blog, Jamie Todd Rubin, March 29, 2013
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