posted
Embarrassment whacked me in the face today in the form of a piece of paper and a sticky note.
The sticky note read:
"I found this in my files from '08. I thought you would enjoy seeing this."
(I forget the exact wording of the second sentence, but I do remember scoffing at a word which meant "to take delight in", and wondering if it was possible that the note was intentionally sarcastic.)
On the piece of paper was a short story I had written five years ago. The deliverer of this gift was my former creative writing teacher. After forcing myself to read through my old story again (maybe around 500 words), I felt quite embarrassed that I had turned in something so terrible without even knowing it. Then, I realized that my former CW teacher must have reread it also before returning it to me.
A moment of silence for my departed reputation.
I proceeded to chuckle to myself like a crazy person sporadically throughout the rest of the day.
Posts: 252 | Registered: Feb 2013
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posted
Well, the last time I went over my stuff, I decided everything I'd written before 1991 was just something-well-known-that-begins-with-S. Brief looks into stuff later in the 1990s still gives me that impression. I'm embarrassed that I even submitted it...and I realize the editors of the day were doing me a great favor by passing it back to me with form rejection slips.
I think I'm a better writer now...I don't seem to be able to "close the deal" and actually sell something, but I'm better than I was.
(The stuff I started turning out in the 2000s---a great hunk of fan fiction and then more stoires---seems much better when I reread them, though. Imperfections and errors do tend to stand out---how could I have missed that when I was writing and revising?)
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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