Very, very odd, reading one's own writings a year or more later, I am working very, very slowly through 'Sweat and Tears'. Not easy.
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Comments
Revisiting old friends can be very hard...
...or children? Your stories contain the reality of this experience in often painful and sad moments as well as the victories your characters may enjoy. I cannot imagine that you wouldn't be moved by your work; it is very powerful and compelling and real! I am so thankful for your craft; you've helped me more ways than I can explain in more times that I can count, and I imagine I'm only one among many. Thank you, Stephanie
Love, Andrea Lena
The real test is ...
... are you impressed or in despair?
I used to edit a sailing club magazine in a different life and came across a few old copies with articles I'd written and decided that although they weren't total disasters I was slightly embarrassed.
Robi
PS In your case you should be impressed ... and moved.
Sweat and tears is not an easy story
painful, and raw, and real, and it helped me quite a bit. As for re-reading your old stuff, I do it all the time. Sometimes, I think I did okay, sometimes, I think the piece could use a total overhaul.
Maybe taking it slow is the
Maybe taking it slow is the way to go? That's probably your darkest story, and taken all at once, could be overwhelming. When you were writing it, and we were reading as it was originally posted, the grimness was spread over many episodes with sunshine and kittens between them. Binge reading it would be a particularly heavy experience, I think.
I started that...
I started that with my first post here, Who Was I.
It was scary. I know I could do a better job today (I even started to revise it...). I "polled the audience" to see if anyone thought it was worthwhile... Most felt they'd rather I spend the time writing new stuff, and let it sit there with all it's typos and awkward wording and such...
So - yeah, been there, done that... And no... It's not easy.
Annette
Well...
I have taken a pause after the reunion with his brother, and I am finding myself happy with the writing. It was a very hard thing to write, very dark, and I really don't know if I would venture that way again.
Finished
Three goes at it, or rather eaten in three sessions. I am happy with the writing, and some tricks pleasantly surprised me as I had forgotten them. One or two lines I might now write a little differently, but it worked for me, especially in the tear ducts. I really must expand the number of first names I use for my characters!
Reality horror show
Two items of child cruelty in the news today:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/boy-11-lived-old-coal-bunker-134017...
And then this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/21/shafilea-ahmed-kill...
I write about love, and family and friends. I try to make my bad guys realistic, and when, as in Sweat and Tears, they are horrific my get-out clause is to write them as psychopaths, as I did with the Cunninghams in S$T. Both of the articles I have linbked to involve family, sane, reasonably normal family. The thing that disturbs me is the mindset in which the Ahmeds (and a lot of their friends and kin), as well as many readers, will feel that they were justified in what they did to their own child.
Sometimes fiction is unnecessary.