Sally, from Kansas City, Kansas, asks “ If you had to choose one of your books to rewrite, which one would it be?”
The short answer is, all of them.
There is no such thing as a perfect book, a book that could not be improved. Not by me, anyway. I write as best I can for as long as I can. That said, there is pressure to finish a book, to say I’ve done enough, that the changes I am making are marginal. The call from the editor who says, “Stop!” There is such a thing as a deadline, which has a lot to do with the business of writing, making a living. An unfinished book means bills are not paid.
That is why I almost never re-read my published books: because I know I will find something, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter … a book … that could have been better. That’s terribly frustrating.
Every now and again, it happens that a book is republished, and I am given license to rewrite. Some very early books of mine such as The End of the Beginning, and my very first book, Things That Sometimes Happen, were republished, and rewritten. So too was Strange Happenings. And the books did become better.
These days I am actually contemplating rewriting a couple of my early books. The assumption is I am a better writer than I was thirty years ago. But to find out if that’s true, I’ll have to read those early books. I’m not sure I want to. What if I was a better writer then?
Now that would be very frustrating.
2 thoughts on “Which of my books would I rewrite?”
Avi, your honesty is refreshing. It seems to be a metaphor for many things in life. Would we “rewrite” something we did or said in our twenties? Or was that experience profound and untouchable as it was…blemishes and all? I’ve taught for about 25 years, and there has never been a lesson I couldn’t improve on. Yet, I move on knowing I did the best I could in the time given. Thank you for being an open book (pun intended).
Thank you Avi. This may well have been the best single piece of wisdom I have taken in for my own growth. My endless scrutinizing for incorrect, could be better, tiny details is out of line with the life I live…which is often messy and undone, but real and honest…just like my writing needs to be. Beautiful imperfections are inevitable, and real. 🙂 Thank you.