Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh for starting the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, where we share and encourage all writer people.
I appreciate this month’s wonderful co-hosts: J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox!
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?
Every time I would re-read my debut novel, With Good Behavior, I felt a cringe vibe.
So I convinced my publisher to revise and re-release the novel seven years after its debut!
But I have a different reaction to my later novels. Revisiting my characters is like hanging with old friends. Sometimes their flaws are apparent, but I often remember what they mean to me. I feel proud of their accomplishments. And I squish them.
Jennifer Lane Books 
It’s great that you were able to revise and republish your first book.
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Thanks, Natalie. I could have done a major rehaul and changed the third-person omniscient to limited POV, but I decided to focus on other edits that made me feel prouder of the story.
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My publisher let me revise my first book as well. Beyond that, I’ve never reread any of my other books.
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That’s a cool opportunity we both had, Alex.
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Haha! I love that — and I share that sentiment…though mine are a not so squishy. More prickly.
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I have prickly characters too! Thanks for stopping by, Crystal. ❤
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This is insightful, but I’d like to hear about what you think when you go back to your very early stuff, in school…
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Hi, Laer, I don’t have easy access to childhood writings. I did write a story in 3rd grade that my teacher bound into a little book, and I thought I was hilarious when my witch character observed that french fries must come from France. My jokes haven’t gotten much better since then.
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I get a little attached myself. hehehe
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Aw, we like our characters!
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Glad you still like your characters.
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
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Thanks so much for co-hosting, J!
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Very cool that your publisher let you revise and rerelease. I didn’t know that was a thing.
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I’m not sure how much of a thing it is, but I guess Alex did that too. 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by my blog. Yes, rereading old work can be a mix bag of feelings. Still, it’s an experience that I think is worth having.
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I agree, Toi. Reading old works is fun and shows our improvement over time.
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