Re-Writing Old Blog Entries

[Monica Manning]

Like everyone else, I have a writing blog.  I was browsing through it one day and came to the (pleasant) realization that my writing has evolved and, dare I say, improved.  However, there are some older posts that make me cringe and I know that Strunk is trashing about. 

Is it appropriate to go back and edit older posts?  I hate to think that someone would read earlier work and think “Pfft! She calls herself a writer?!”  

 

[Elliott Cox]

Your writing blog is intended to showcase your writing, not your evolution. I say go forth and re-write!

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

Agree.

[shauna mcclure]

i 86 a lot of my stuff...light it on fire, re-work it, dance around it. i think it is yours...and your will be done...

[jkdavies]

Oh god I'm a hoarder... I keep all the things I ever posted (the revised stuff goes up alongside the old stuff)
I was horrified to find out that there is a time limit for blogs to be kept online anyway, so now I have to "back up" all my blogs in various formats ;)

[Michael Brown]

Is this true about time limits? I found stuff about a week ago that I posted in 1999, still intact! True, the art of blogging proper began in 2000, and some newer "rules" may apply, but consider this: Even if your stuff winds up in limbo (where it can still eventually be accessed), think about the distance your creative efforts have traveled from your mind to that place, and how many eyes have observed it, maybe never even commenting, but connecting with you in some small way.

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

What is the time limit?

[jkdavies]

I saw in blogger.com that it was 499 days...

[Michael Brown]

Just think about George Romero turning his original low-budget Night of the Living Dead into a big budget film that started a franchise, and how both versions are now out there.
Go for it.
And to those who have the audacity to say, “Pfft! She calls herself a writer?!” respond with, "I do, now," at any given moment in time.

[Jeanette Cheezum]

You can do anything you want it's your blog. Although, it never hurts to continue to improve that blog. :)

[Monica Manning]

Thanks, everyone! I appreciate your input, though I'm surprised that everyone feels the same way. I must admit, I thought at least a few people would say to leave them. I feel better, knowing that I'm making the right decision and not breaching some unknown writer's rule. I guess I have a lot of re-writing to do! And thanks for the time limit tip, jkdavies--I didn't know about that. At least it gives me a deadline and I won't slack. Not to mention the motivation to download everything!

[Jenni Marie]

I have a blog from 2001-2009. . .everything is still there, but it is password protected/not public, so I am not sure about time limits.

Edit away, Monica! It's your writing, and I have discovered the same thing lately. Some of my old stuff is not worthy of the paper or the screen it is read on! Yikes. :9

[Stephen Torelli]

Monica, of course it's appropriate to go back and edit. You can make it better and sometimes your feelings change, so why not do it? And try not to worry about the negative.