Did I Really Write That?
I had a great idea the other day. We had several short stories in our files that were just sitting there, gathering dust. Maybe we should group them together and publish them in a book. Many writers are doing this now, and it seemed like a great idea. My head started to fill up with illustrations and new covers, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
I sorted them all out and started to cast my editor’s eye over them. Reading through the first one came as a bit of a shock. It had been written a long time ago and some of the writing was terrible and the formatting worse. Had our writing really changed that much?
None of it seemed familiar, and shock horror, there were many errors, in both the editing and grammar.
I couldn’t believe it. I know we all get better the more we write, but never thought I would have that fact so blatantly presented to me.
It’s not just writing, either. It can be anything. A drawing or painting, or something you have painstakingly made. As we get older, I think we must get more particular about the end result of our efforts.
I have noticed that I am less tolerant of the errors I find in the books I read too. It is hard to describe what I mean, but I think books should impress me more these days. I have discovered that simply being a writer has changed me. I no longer just ‘read’ a book. I must learn something, glean some facet and be impressed at the very least.
Which might mean I am becoming a better writer, and that is definitely reason to celebrate.
We have been blogging for over two years now, and some of our early posts are a bit embarrassing to say the least. I read some them now and cringe. In our defence, we didn’t really have a clue back them. No amount of book reading can ever equip you with the right and wrong way to utilise this new digital age.
I didn’t find too much help around in the beginning either. All I had to go on, was studying other blogs and trying to figure out how to do the same.
The first blog we ever had was the easiest I could find, but even then, I ran into trouble. The worst of it, I discovered, was it had no help desk or any other way to ask for help. These days, everyone is so helpful and I am so much more capable than I was back then.
Who knew we would all become bloggers? It’s not that long ago that there was no such thing…
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