(Quick Public Service Announcement: I seem to have an abundance of friends looking to submit their manuscripts to free lance editors for fine tuning. So, I wanted to pass along information for Jessica Bell. Jessica is a writer, but she also has a strong editorial background. Just relaying for anyone interested in going this route, since I know Jess is good people and will stand behind her services.)
Sometimes I get introspective and spend time imagining what the future will be like.
Screw the rest of the stuff. If only the last one came true I could die a happy woman. *sigh*
Anyway, eventually, I come back to reality and get a little more realistic in my wonderings. And every now and again when I think about my writing and the efforts I'm going through to get published, I wonder if I might one day regret some things.
Right now, I LOVE my stories (both the completed one and the new bun in my writerly oven). But will I still feel the same in 15-20 years? Because the one thing about being published, regardless of paper copy or ebook, etc. Once your words are out there, released to the public, you can't ever take them back.
I know, I'll never regret my stories...but will I one day be slightly embarrassed by the juvenile versions of my writing?
I ask, because there was a time when I actually thought this was cool.
This picture is late 80's, back when we thought we were the 8th grade "ish". (Don't recall when putt-putt golf was the "in" thing to do, but whatever.) We were rocking the cheese. This was apparently before I discovered make-up and please don't ask me about the hair. I'm well aware that I look like a poor man's Molly Ringwald.
Anyway, as you can tell by the I'm-so-cool-look-at-me-leaning pose, I apparently felt pretty good about myself when this picture was taken. Now, I look back and cringe at this child and wonder why no one stopped her when she tried leaving the house like that. (My friend Kim doesn't count as a judge, she's wearing boxer shorts over her leggings for crying out loud)
I just hope and pray, that twenty years after my first manuscript is published I don't look back and cringe the way I did when I first stumbled across this picture!!
5 witty remarks:
Well, don't fret, I have some news that might cheer you. When you get a contract for your first book, you will notice there is a clause about Reversal of Rights. Most pubs enter into 7 years.
So dearest, after 7 years, the rights of your book pass back to you and therefore, you can re-write it if you wish. No one will be the wiser unless they have copies of the original.
(I know of one or two romance writers who have done this with earlier works. Not that they changed the whole ms. but just tweaked what they thought were newbie mistakes.)
ha! Yes, hmm, I've thought about that too! :o) But I wouldn't worry. Have you ever read Margaret Atwood's first novel? It was really good but so so much weaker than her latest stuff. Just sayin'. Evolution, baby. Go with it :o)
Thanks for the plug!
OMG ha...if it helps, I will think you're awesome in 15-20 years...even if you wore...that...
I don't think there is anything wrong with evolving and improving, though I agree, it might be embarrassing at some point. Oh well, chalk it up to the cost of success!
OMG, I LOVE it. I think you totally rocked the Ringwald style! I wish I could find my wanna-be Kelly McGillis hair (I even wore a bomber jacket). lol.
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