What do you think when you come across old things you've written?

Hello, Megamatt. Like you, there's a mix of amusement and 'Did I really write that?' However, I console myself with the fact that writers grow, and our writing improves with our experience of life. As we get older, we have more to put into our writing, and the simple fact of just writing on a daily basis is going to be an improving exercise. I'm really happy with my writing now, and, as I earn well from it, and get a lot of positive feedback, I suppose other people must be happy with it as well.

I am always in awe with the ideas that I write about days or even years ago. I would then start to think- was that really me who wrote such? Sometimes there are technical flaws such as grammatical error, but primarily the whole concept of my writings surprises me all the time.

Hi megamatt, That is very true and I guess it just goes to show how we are evolving with the new ideas and technology that are all around us today. I don't want to destroy any copies of what I've written because that's the way I thought at the time. We are constantly changing and even five years from now we may smile at what we are writing today. Blessings.

Besides the natural editing, I am always amazed that I´m basically the same person I was so many years ago. I am a writer in my own language but I don´t write because I want to make something beautiful (at least at the begining). I write because I have to. I feel that there are things inside me that need to come out or else I´d busrt. Many times I start writing something and the characters take hold of the story and tell their own stories in their own way. Then, after I let it down for a while, I read what it´s written and begin to understand why that was written and I begin to rewrite it and clean it. Some people say I write well, I say I write. I haven´t even destroyed the pitiful diaries I wrote when I was 10 years old. I don´t read them but I still remember the hate I could only write there. I truly believe that words help me take command of myself and change raw feelings into complex and more rational thoughts.

I've always written well, but I can see how much I've improved since writing something years ago. There's always room to learn and improve, so it doesn't bother me that something I wrote a long time ago isn't as good as what I'm currently writing. What's interesting is that sometimes I don't even remember I wrote it. I can look at an article or a journal entry and it's as if someone else wrote it.

i actually experienced this. when i went over it again, i was laughing to myself and i can say that i had somehow improved on my writing style. before, it seems my short stories are fully influenced by anime. now, well sometimes i get ideas from anime still but i mixed it up with my own ideas. it was refreshing, but i'm not sure if i kept it or threw it away. XD

When I see my writings, I am surprised that I have wrote them. I come to remember and recall when I made them. There are times that I have to laugh. But most of the time, I find myself editing them or revising them. But it is really a nice feeling and realizing that I have wrote many.

i have kept all the notebooks that i write notes in for writing and have loved to look through them at different times. it shows me how much i have grown as a writer.

you said it, megamatt "amused and mortified", lol. but often i just keep them coz most carry some special memories like some old cards i received when i was younger. plus, it gives me some ideas about the changes i've gone through when i get to read the old ones and compare them with my new ones. i still find it amusing tough, lol.

I feel the same way that u do but most times I think what the heck was I thinking when I wrote it cant beleave some of the stuff I wrote Years and years ago!

Yeah, some of the things I wrote I've locked in a safe and hope they never see the light of day again. But I just don't want to throw them away because as bad as they are... I'm glad I wrote them. They helped me to learn, to grow, to change, to get better. If I'd never written them I'd either still be writing that bad or I wouldn't be writing at all. Lately though, whenever I stumble across old writing I feel much better about them. Not super-great-I'm-gonna-write-the-query-right-now, but I feel like I've really come a long way and I am doing better. Maybe it's just that not enough time is past. lol

I like to look at things that i have written in the past. This can trigger some wonderful memories. Sometimes this will make me think of something else to write.It can be like finding lost treasure.

I wish I could say that everything I have ever written was so good it deserves to be preserved forever. Not a chance. The problem in today's world is that you cannot destroy something once it has reached the Internet. In earlier times, you could find the manuscript and any copies you might have made and get rid of them.

reading and thinking.and most of time, I just get memories from these articles.Very nice.