Did I Ever Hate Something I've Written?

Did I Ever Hate Something I've Written?

It seems to be a common belief that you should always hate your past work because you constantly improve and should be disgusted with your early efforts. Well, maybe if you read the first story you've written in front of people. Maybe if you don't take the time to learn the basics. It seems counter productive to hate anything you write. 

I used to paper my wall with rejection slips when I started writing. When I got to 140, I tore it down and tossed the mess away. Why must we always be reminded of failure? I was beating myself down because some of those rejections were from publications that wouldn't have published my story if it had been Gone With The Wind.

I've never been disgusted with or hated anything I've written in the past. Could I do it better? Not within my fictional world, unless it's from an editorial end where my editing would be different than another editor. 

I can say I didn't like a lot of my early short stories, but by the time I finished a novel, I knew what I was doing enough to like it and go back and finish some of the stories. I've also never read one of my books or stories out loud in public because I would probably start laughing because I either couldn't be serious enough or funny where it's supposed to be funny. But I'm also the kind of writer who thinks writer's groups are counter-productive and can kill a writer. 

I was an active member of the Horror Writers Association for a few years. I couldn't wait to meet the requirement in sales to become an active member. Got in there and found out there were a few good people and the rest were a collection of arrogant name dropping psychos with severe identity complexes. 

Sorry to ramble, but for the most part writers are better off working alone unless they drink and have social gatherings at times to be part of something. 

So I disagree with hating previous work. It was you at the time you wrote it. Why torture yourself? The days of great literature are long gone. None of us will write War and Peace. Mainly, because no one cares. They don't even teach kids how to write their names anymore. The paperback days are gone, and the printed word is dying fast with the huge advances. We are in the days when the romance genre is considered great literature, as if it isn't formula writing.

Write what you want and love what you write. You may become famous after you are gone from this world. Could I have edited this little rant down to the bare bones? Yes, I could. Brevity is something I like, but at times I just let the "white heat" take over, or maybe it's "flow of consciousness".