Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you?

Victoria Marie Lees

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https://www.victoriamarielees.com/

Insecure Writers Want to Know

Welcome, fellow IWSG writers, to Adventures in Writing. I’m so glad you are here. I’m excited to be cohosting this month.

In answer to this month’s question, I find it interesting that I still enjoy reading my earlier short stories and essays. Not that I read them often. I only have one longer published work. Determination: A Mother of Five Conquers College, my memoir published in May of 2025.

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I probably need more distance from my stories, essays, or memoir to see if I still enjoy them in the same manner.

Now this is not to say that I don’t find myself tweaking sentences and word choice here and there in my mind as I read. But the main action or point of the story or essay holds firm. I write lean. I’m involved in the movement of the story or essay.

I don’t enjoy getting bogged down in the details when I read something. However, when I read my college memoir, I do wish I had added more scene or emotional details in some places.

I want to thank those of you, dear fellow IWSG writers, who have read Determination: A Mother of Five Conquers College and left a review on Goodreads or Amazon—or both. As authors, we all know the importance of reviews. I review every book I read on both social media platforms. For the reader, of course, but also for my fellow authors. This is an important part of marketing for our books. Reviews help our books get noticed in all the noise online. Reviews help readers find our books and decide whether the book is for them.

So thank you, kind IWSG friends, for reading Determination and leaving reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. Writers helping writers. That’s what IWSG is all about.

Now I’m off to see what you have to say about reading your previous work. Happy IWSG Day, everyone!    

Thank you for stopping by my little spot on the web. Please come again! And please sign up for my FREE monthly newsletter to find tips on writing and camping. It’s greatly appreciated.

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank my fellow co-hosts for February: J Lenni Dorner, and Sandra Cox! Please visit them if you can.    

Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE. 

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Learning from My Journey

Starting college can be difficult. But starting college at 40 while still raising five children can seem impossible. It is not. Find some tips on how I accomplished this feat in my recent Business Insider article. 

Helping kids become campers takes time. But it can be done. See how in my recent Business Insider article. I continue to write Parenting articles for Business Insider and share the links in my newsletters.