Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG
is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank
you to co-hosts for the February posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox! For
links to all contributors, click here.
Optional February 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?
My favorite part of re-reading old pieces is recognizing the
improvement in my writing. I’d only written non-fiction and poetry when I
attempted my first piece of fiction. A blogger I followed offered a contest in
which she provided the first and last sentence of a short story. Contestants had
to fill in the middle with a specific maximum word count. I gave it a go and ended
up astonished. Who knew I could write a story?
Of course I didn’t win. There were all sorts of structure problems. But who
cares? It started something. Another blog offered daily writing prompts and I
used them to challenge myself. Eventually, a few more contests brought a
mention or two, enough to keep me going. A scene storming exercise led to my
first novel attempt, a bomb, but ten years later I got back to it. Now it’s a
fully realized manuscript.
The gist is, a lot of my early work is emphatically cringeworthy, but
so what? Writing is like everything else. The longer we practice the better we
get. Those early words are the pilings beneath the pier. They support what’s built
on top of it.
How do you feel about your early writing?
16 comments:
You've got a great attitude toward your earlier works. And it's good that you can see how you've grown as a writer.
We have to write like crap for a while so that we can improve!
Yes on recognizing the improvement in our work!
Love your perseverance. You made it to a completed manuscript.
Fun to track your progress
I love that perspective -- that you rejoice in having completed a work, great or not. I wish I could be that encouraging to my old pieces.
Writing in such contests does tell us about our hidden talents. It's a fun experience and yes--who cares about the trophy there?
Funny--when thinking about this question, I've only thought about my early *published* works. I have a LOT of stuff that I wrote before I got to that point, including a mystery novel (it tickles in the back of my mind. If I ever run dry with ideas maybe I'll try to see if it could be revived). Since I started writing at about age 6, I have a lot of laughable stuff, as well as some that might be interesting to re-read, even though it's not very good.
I'm in complete agreement - going back is a great way to show us how we've improved. If we're not improving and moving forward, what's the point?
I love what you said about pilings beneath the pier! And how cool that you got your start by responding to blog prompts. Two of my short stories that got published were written as response to prompts from a writer's website.
"The longer we practice the better we get." Well said, Liza. Thank you for this insight.
Ah, I remember the days of frequent blog contests. There were so many. A good prompt with a word count can push you to create some really interesting work. I'm glad it helped you and I like the analogy of the earlier work acting as support.
'Those early works are the pilings beneath the peer.' I love it. What a purrfect description. Write on.
Sounds like a really fun beginning! And a great exercise for the creative mind.
Happy IWSG day! I'm co-hosting this month.
"A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third." — Tyler DeVries
J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) @JLenniDorner ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge international blog hop
To get good at something, you have to be willing to be bad at it first. I love that you stuck with it long enough to get better.
I think sometimes you are too hard on yourself. ( but we all are). I've re-read some of my stuff and don't cringe. I have a new friend from the Y and lent her one of my books. She wasn't around during my initial writer hubbub - so fresh eyes. She was very complimentary and did not drop me as a friend. I consider that a win. Practice, practice, practice.
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