SquarePeg Books

February 4 question – Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you?

Most of my experience has been “put the patient on the donor list, but we’re burning most of it.”

Even now, as I struggle to format my fantasy novel, that has taken WAY TOO LONG to just write, I look at this manuscript that I have SPENT AN ABSURD AMOUNT OF YEARS WRITING, and think “WTF was I thinking?”

In part, I think this has to do with the whole “familiarity breeds contempt” concept, kinda like an old married couple that hasn’t murdered each other yet because it would be too much work, but they still care about each other, but cAN YOU PLEASE STOP BREATHING IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME!!!???!!?????!!

I think another issue with older work is just how one changes and ages as a person. 20 years ago, I thought a tad differently. After 20 years of experiences, opinions change, politics shift, newer experiences color the current pair of glasses I’m wearing. What you consider “small stuff” that doesn’t matter is different.

Sometimes the manuscript I am formatting now reads a lot differently than I remember it. Some of that may be losing track of how many edits. Some of it may be a toss off line when it was first typed in, that hits different now that I am significantly older than when I first wrote it.

Check out the Insecure Writer’s Support Group to see what other writers are thinking about!