IWSG: Re-reading early works

 

Its the first Wednesday in February already. That means, time for the Insecure Writers Support Group post. Click here for the IWSG  participant linky and posting details.

This month's co-hosts are: J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox. Be sure to visit their blogs and show your IWSG support.

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?

Yes, I have re-read many of my earlier works. Some of my early work re-reads have sparked new ideas that allowed me to send for publishing. These are usually short stories. Sometimes I read something I put aside, and get ideas to create longer stories. Sometimes I re-read that stuff and get the best laugh I've had in months/years. Like - wow, what sparked that nonsense! And sometimes I re-read and tell myself I can't wait to get back to writing on the project - and it never happens.

Even over the last few years of "not writing" I've revisited several projects, made some editing notes, or actual re-writes. Or just enjoyed reading something I created, even if I did not make any changes (except in my minds eye). I think its a good thing to re-read old projects - I find it helpful to remind myself of how far I've come in my writing journey, but to also remember that I enjoyed the act of creating a story, even if just for myself.

I wrote my first full novella (at the time I thought it was a novel) during high school. It took me about two years to complete. My English teacher read it, and said it was pretty good. He talked to my parents and wanted to enter it into a Children's writing contest of some sort. My parents said no, of course, there would be fees and things they had to agree to. And the book went into a pile of memorabilia. That ended my aspirations at becoming the next Louisa May Alcott.

I don't know why, but I've carried that hand written folder with me all these years (about 50), sometimes forgetting I have it, then finding it again when I'm clearing out old stuff I never look at. Oddly, its never hit the trash bin, though that's always my first instinct. Well, yes it has hit the trash, then I pull it out. When I first started writing again - as an adult with lots of life experience behind me - I re-read it, and thought maybe I should re-write it. But I never have, not even to type it into a computer document.

Its kind of my own secret. Nobody has read it in my family - I don't think so anyways. Everyone knows I have it, but its just my high school thing. And maybe that's why I don't do anything with it. The story defined a period in my childhood, and maybe working on it now, with my adult mind, will take away the innocence of youth, and the dream of a fabulous life after foster care.

The project I'm working on now is sort of a re-read/re-write. I lost it on the computer, but found it in print form. I'm attempting not to make any changes until I get it all in a word document. Data entry first, right?!?

So my own question to you is: do you have anything you kept from your early writing days and re-read just to remind yourself of who you were then, and how far you have come now?

IWSG: 2026 WRITING PLANS

 This post is for the first Insecure Writers Support Group of the year 2026.

Honestly, I don't remember how to make a post after the years I've been absent from blogging. So, cut me a break if the writing is not up to your standards. I actually had to experiment and re-learn how to post on blogger.

The IWSG hosts for this installment are: Shannon Lawrence, Olga Goddim, Jean Davis, Jacqui Murray.

Please be sure to visit their posts and thank them for their support.

I'm going to keep this simple and just answer the January 7 question: Is there anything in your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done in 2025?

Well, write, lol. Or, copy/type into a word document. I'm doing the usual end-of-year cleaning out of cupboards and forgotten stash holes, and found a box that has printed copies of some books I lost in a computer return long years ago. I'm a busy busy person in my working life, so I thought about paying someone - maybe a grandchild that needs money - to just type in from the printed book. But once I started doing this re-typing myself, I found it a difficult job just to write it as-is. That editing demon wants to change every word, or sentence.

So I decided this is a great exercise in writing - or reading - for me. I've always been a harsh critic when reading other writers drafts, and maybe this is my opportunity to learn something about my own writing. From the first sentence I typed I realized I haven't created a word document in so long I don't remember how to set up the header, page numbers, paragraph indentations. As silly as it sounds, word processing has changed so much in the 4-5 years since I consistently used Microsoft Works that I have to relearn almost everything.

Now, you young people probably don't get this, but the world of document writing has drastically changed since I started my secretarial/data entry career. I started with WordStar on an Apple II-e. No, I started in middle school on an Olympia typewriter. Maybe not Olympia, but its the brand I can remember now. But typewriter, and if you've never used one, or never watched a retro show that has one, then don't strain your brain to figure it out. The point I'm making is, I have to learn all over again how to create a document.

I think its a good thing for me to re-start my writing by copying a book I've already written. While initially writing this series I was able to conceive, write and publish several unrelated short stories. I'm hoping that by re-creating this lost novel, I'll get my writing muse interested enough to spark other writings. I doubt the women's fiction trilogy that has been my obsession for the last 12 years will ever see publication, but it has helped me to create other writings that have been published.

And I'd love to be published again in 2026. What about you? Any writing goals that have not been fulfilled in 2025?

FIRST POST, NEW YEAR 2026

 Hello

I'm feeling weird about posting again. Like, restarting an abandoned hobby.

When I started this blog in 2009 by suggestion from an irl writers group friend, I never expected it to go anywhere. I'm not a real life social person, joining the writers group took a lot of courage. The in-person writers group immensely helped my writing career. The group leader was one of the most awesome people I've ever met.

I immersed a lot of my writing personality into the blog life. First, I found people that supported writing activities that encouraged new authors to stretch themselves. To invent, to challenge, to work together. I grew as a writer. I miss those early days of blogging, when the writing journey was everything.

Now, those same blogs are about the sales: how many stories have been written, how many submitted, how many sold, how much money was made, how many good reviews were written. To me, the blogs became a QVC sales event. I couldn't/can't compete; I'll never make it past amateur author. I still like a lot of those people/bloggers though. A "I knew you when" type thing. When the posts were about writing journeys. The writing world has moved on . . .

I admit, I became disgruntled when all the blogs I followed did not publish my writings. But really, I miss those days of writing for the joy of putting words on (computer) paper and enjoying the creation of a story. So, back to the proverbial drawing board for me. I have written. I continue to write for my own pleasure. I have published my short stories in off-beat venues. I may indi-publish my novels, or a collection of my short stories. Someday.

My new year's pledge to myself is to write several times a week. Something new, something I lost, something that may not go anywhere except as a diary entry. Sort of. But all just cuz I enjoy writing, even if no one but me ever reads it. Cuz, ya know; I like writing stories. Even if those stories never go beyond my computer.

New Year's resolution: post twice a month, write three days a week. That qualifies as several times a week to write; yes?

Happy New Year every one. I hope all your writing/publishing/sales dreams come true.