Repolishing Your Written Work

I recently began going back and re-reading some of my older work that I have submitted. I must admit that I am very critical of my own work. I would read one of my columns or articles, then either say to myself "Wow did I write that. That is not bad at all." Other times I would say "what was I thinking". I have noticed that certain articles I have written have done well for me, others have received very little traffic.

I do feel a person should go back and look again at their work. If it is something you are proud of you should of course leave it alone, if you can improve it you should. If it something you are ashamed you wrote or feel it is not going anywhere you should delete it. I do not feel you should over think the situation.

Many authors do go back and republish works, they also make improvements, use knowledge they have gained since first starting out. Also, when you first submit an article, column or story you may be too close to it. I don't mean not to edit before you post, simply that you may want to go back again and read a piece once again with a readers view point, rather than a writer's. I have read where other authors (such as Patricia Briggs) have written that they took more initiative with certain works or learned more about the writing craft between publications over the years.

Publishers sometimes make changes. Such as when they have the rights to certain works and use another writer or a "ghostwriter". 30 years ago the public did not really know about ghostwriters, or writers use more than one name. Anyway, I digress.

Back on point, I was saying that as a writer I do feel I have evolved over the last four years. The craft continues to interest me, I like to learn. I am basically a natural writer, I did enjoy creative writing courses in high school. (that was over 20 years ago).

What I seem to have difficulty figuring out, is which articles will do good and which do not. I admit I do not always write what is on topic or news however, I seem to do better with pieces that are about animals, which I guess seems to be a popular subject. The other pieces that have done well are my sort of personal situations that I have written; I do not know if it is because of the human interest level or not. I just write what I have felt, learned, have experienced myself,or seen someone else go through situations, I am very observant.

--These are my own impressions, thoughts and opinions, what I have observed.--