I was recently motivated to dust off an essay that I wrote about six years ago.The theme and style of the piece as I remembered it seemed in line with material accepted by POUI - The Cave Hill Literary Annual, Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies which has recently agreed to publish another of my jottings and has encouraged me to submit again.
I found the essay, printed it out–I still work best on paper–and sat down to take a look. Embarrassed does not even begin to describe my reaction to my writing. It is certainly well-intentioned and the story has potential but from the first sentence one can see that the author is an amateur, and well, let’s just say that my editing skills were not where they are now.
Although I am appalled that I actually submitted this to be published six years ago, I am pleased to have this concrete proof of sorts that I have grown as a writer. Like many writers, I go through periods of doubting my ability to put words on paper that other people will actually be interested in reading. This self-assessment is a significant event in my journey.
Tell me about a moment in your career when you recognized that you had made strides towards your writing goals.
It is nice to see how far one has developed. We can compare ourselves to others who aren't so good but published, or to ourselves at an early stage. The latter is better.
ReplyDeleteI recently read something I wrote and published online a few yeas ago. I could feel my face flush as I read. Hope no one has looked at it recently.
ReplyDeleteThe realization that I had made significant strides towards my writing goals, was when I was going through my slush pile of old stories and novels looking for something to work on next and after taking a quick look at each one, said to myself, "Yeah, these are pretty much DOA." then quickly put them back to where they came from.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know I am not alone. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely not alone. When I look through some of my old writing that Virginia Slims line comes to mind - "you've come a long way, baby!"
ReplyDeleteThat defining moment came when my agent called to say she loved my work and wanted to represent me. But when the book had been accepted by a publisher and I was going through the process of editing the galley, I realized that the last four chapters, which I had written years after completing the rest of the novel, were far better written than the part I had written earlier.
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