tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post3710289617590781596..comments2013-01-07T01:42:42.515-08:00Comments on One Writer's World: A Little Nostalgia (Very Little)Susan Oleksiwhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14922248909626899186noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-52323710340534473562011-10-18T06:25:21.294-07:002011-10-18T06:25:21.294-07:00Perhaps what I should have written was how much I ...Perhaps what I should have written was how much I (or we) have changed over the years. I sympathize with Grace's comment about looking back on her early work and being embarrassed by it but I also relate to Kathleen and Elizabeth who both found a way to reuse old work. I have noted that no one said they found old work and just gave it a simple revision and then sent it out. To one degree or another, we don't like our old work as it is.Susan Oleksiwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14922248909626899186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-6880944189582709202011-10-17T15:39:50.308-07:002011-10-17T15:39:50.308-07:00Susan,
Your post really hit home. Just this morni...Susan,<br />Your post really hit home. Just this morning I sent my daughter-in-law an account of my childhood Halloweens which had been published in 1993. I went through major gyrations to find it, but now our grandchildren are the right age to read it. Even if our writing improves, it's still great to have those old files kicking around somewhere. Paper files will always be a part of this household. Thanks for the fun post. LizElizabeth C. Mainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00168651327575887089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-38143133061953674912011-10-17T07:29:23.857-07:002011-10-17T07:29:23.857-07:00I have a folder of those big 5.5" floppies th...I have a folder of those big 5.5" floppies that I know have stories on them but I'll never retrieve them. However I did dig out a story from 20 years ago and rewrote it with a ghostly twist. It is now a Kindle Single called Ghosts of A Beach Town in Winter and has been climbing steadily on Amazons Selling charts so that's encouraging.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15964712984479525970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-46145756584446184582011-10-17T07:04:06.513-07:002011-10-17T07:04:06.513-07:00Susan, in preparation for leaving town, i started ...Susan, in preparation for leaving town, i started going through old clips from the mid-'80s when i was community editor & feature writer for the gd times. Since many of the features were historical pieces about Cape Ann, i handed them over to Fred and Stephanie Buck, archivists at the Cape Ann Museum. later, i got to reading the duplicates i still had, and they're so presumptuously folksy, i'm heartily embarrassed. aargh! graceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-89900014905744886962011-10-16T14:46:45.344-07:002011-10-16T14:46:45.344-07:00I think you're all correct about how earlier w...I think you're all correct about how earlier work can show us how much we've grown as writers. And perhaps it's good for us to wince once in a while over our earlier efforts, and then smile and move on. <br /><br />What can I say about paper? I love hard copy. I now keep paper files of everything I think is worth keeping and publishing, which means my office is a mess but that's another story.<br /><br />Thanks for commenting.Susan Oleksiwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02693057997469296068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-10420234611016060412011-10-16T06:35:20.409-07:002011-10-16T06:35:20.409-07:00As a former techie and girl geek, I am a great bel...As a former techie and girl geek, I am a great believer in the "hard" copy. Still have (embarrassing) essays and papers from college. It helps to see one's growth as a writer over the years and decades. Sometimes I still steal stuff from my first unpublished novel. Even flawed fiction can have some gems.JudyinBostonhttp://www.judycopek.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-59938268423045677592011-10-16T03:51:20.881-07:002011-10-16T03:51:20.881-07:00I have also lost a great deal of work along the wa...I have also lost a great deal of work along the way and it is discouraging. As Edith notes, rereading old work can be discouraging since we've learned so much about writing since. Writing is, after all, a process. I think we improve with age. However, old manuscripts can be rewritten and improved upon if we save them.Jacqueline Seewaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09177500620940251009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4914136465019308063.post-17087635369474190042011-10-15T16:58:19.719-07:002011-10-15T16:58:19.719-07:00Such a relevant post to my situation right now. I ...Such a relevant post to my situation right now. I do still have current digital (on my hard drive) copies of fiction I wrote up to 18 years ago, some of it in your group, Susan. I have it only because I kept copying it up to the next computer. <br /><br />I'm diving back into the Murder in the Greenhouse mystery I wrote about two-thirds of in 1993-1994 as part of your writers group at that time. I'm thinking about starting a new cozy series based on the original premise of an organic farmer protagonist. <br /><br />Mainly I'm astonished by how much I have learned about writing in the ensuing 18 years and how, frankly, crappy the writing is in my first book. As you mention in your gleaning of the substance in your early work, I think I can use the essence of the characters and setting. But the writing? I'm starting from scratch. Time does march on.<br /><br />EdithEdith Maxwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388006370860482509noreply@blogger.com