IWSG: Changing the story
I'm running late with my IWSG post, which probably tells you all you need to know about how things are going!
Purpose: To
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without
fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire
can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure
writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Don't forget you can post your link on the IWSG Facebook page!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
The awesome co-hosts for the February 5 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Louise Barbour, and Tyrean Martinson!
Every month, we announce a question that
members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you
to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your
answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if
you are struggling with something to say.
Remember, the question is optional!
February 5 question - Is there a story or book you've written you want to/wish you could go back and change?
Remember, the question is optional!
February 5 question - Is there a story or book you've written you want to/wish you could go back and change?
First, an update:
I've been kind of off my work for the last 10 days, because first I got a nasty virus (in my body, not my computer), and then I got to take that ailing body and help my daughter move to California. We squeaked through the mountains seconds ahead of the storms, and then holed up to wait out the weather and wait for us both to get well (because of course I gave the crud to her!). So my work on the revisions of Edited Out kind of ground to a halt, and have only just resumed. I have managed to send out one short story and a residency application since our last meeting!
The Question:
Do I have a book I'd like to go back and change? Not in a huge way, but I would very much like to re-edit the first of the Pismawallops PTA books, and *really* rework my first book, The Ninja Librarian. I toy with the idea from time to time when things are slow--a new edition of NL would make me feel better, but I greatly fear (with the inability to ever remove anything from Amazon for reals) would just confuse people. And I'd need new covers, which then wouldn't match the rest of the series, which.... yeah, it's all just too much. So I doubt that will ever happen.
How about you? Have you done it? Wanted to do it? What was your experience?
©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025 As always, please ask permission to use any
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I did redo a book once. The Writer's Guide to Color was originally The Life and Times of Color. I added more information and, of curse, redid the cover. Amazon recommended adding "Previously published as The Life and Time of Color" to the new title and "Republished as A Writer’s Guide to Color" to the old book before unpublishing it.
ReplyDeleteGood suggestions--though I wouldn't change the titles.
DeleteYeah. This one I changed the title because the old title wasn't working. I was trying to be too clever. ;)
DeleteSorry your trip was full of sickness. Hope the rest of the move went well.
ReplyDeleteDon't think I'd want to go back and make any real changes.
I'm finally getting human again, and now we can start the fixer-upper stage of the move, so writing is still going to be a little spotty.
DeleteSorry about the virus. Better in the computer than in the body, for sure. You were lucky to make it over those mountains before the storm.
ReplyDeletehttps://cleemckenziebooks.substack.com
Seriously--my daughter came over Siskiyou pass about 30 minutes behind me and the snow had started to stick on the road between! I'll be staying down here until the roads are good again, even if I weren't busy working on the house.
DeleteI hope you feel better soon and focus on resting. You can get back to your writing when you feel better.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteAnonymously Esther O'Neill, East of the Sun, IWSG, no signal ( google can't believe this) rubbish broadband., Wordpress woes this week - and a pre-Christmas family visit enabled us to share a nasty virus too.. Rewriting ? Only when I believe a book could be better - definitely true of everything I tried to write during a personal, not meteorological storm. Hopefully, calm after that storm will enable me to write better .
ReplyDeleteYes, Wordsworth's "powerful emotion recollected in tranquility" seems like the key for writing about big personal stuff!
DeleteI'm glad you and your daughter completed her move and overcame all the challenges, Rebecca! Happy IWSG Day!
ReplyDeleteBig exciting steps--now to get the house fixed up and ready to go!
DeleteHope you're feeling better soon.
ReplyDeleteYou're a good person to help her move. I'd heard someone was moving into California (while everyone else moves out!). I'll be helping my son move from Maryland in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI've recently read both series you mention and think they're brilliant -- don't change a thing! (My reviews will be up in April for my A-Z posts.)
ReplyDeleteHope you get well soon :-)
Ronel visiting for IWSG day Help Needed for Spreading the Word About Irascible Immortals