If you're a writer, then you understand how much your writing grows and changes from that first story to the current wip. So you wind up finding things in older stories that can make you cringe. If it's bad enough, you even throw in the towel and bury the story for all eternity. That is if you don't just delete the file.
I have a hard time with deleting. It almost feels like I'm killing off an old friend. So my computer files are filled with stories I haven't gotten back to -- and for my own sake, hopefully never will. Why? Because I've found it's a heck of a lot easier to start from scratch than to pick something apart and try to make it work. Have you ever remodeled a house? We have. Building from the ground up is easier. Trust me.
However, we don't always have the luxury to build from the basement up and those months of work banging out a story feel like a loss if it never flies.
So, I'm determined to give my first "baby" one or two more shots at being seen. She hardly resembles the ms she once was. She's lost about 40k of words that really were not necessary--I'm cringing, btw, to know a real editor once read this part. Yet, the structure is sound, the writing mostly passable and fixable, the characters are dear to my heart. Will it sell? Heck if I know. But I promised myself that I'll set it aside if plans F & G fall through. Really. I will. Scouts honor.
Okay, I might have to reuse the hero's name for another character down the road (I love, love, love the name) ... but I will move on to something else. Something newer. Something with a little more pizzazz. ;) And I have just the thing ... right there in my documents list. (GG)
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