I've read a lot of books and stories from the early part of the 20th century. When I first read about the 1918 flu pandemic, however, it was like reading about some sort of alternate history, because none of the books or movies or old radio shows I'd seen or listened to ever mentioned this world-wide catastrophe. Did someone go back in time and prevent it?
I started revising an old story and wondered if I might update it with contemporary references, including COVID-19. I decided against it. Then I wondered if I would mention the virus in any upcoming stories I had planned -- frankly, I don't feel like it, unless I have to for a plot point. Maybe that's what happened in the media and fiction of a century ago -- after putting up with a pandemic for so long, no one wanted to remind themselves and others of it. Looks like no time travel or conspiracies are needed to dump something into the memory hole.
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I'm revising some older stuff to adapt for/upload to Amazon Kindle, so I'm re-reading books and stories for the first time in some years. "Hey! These are pretty good!" I exclaim occasionally to the empty room.
Earlier I dug up a story I wrote -- well, MANY years ago -- expecting it to be wretched, crude, dreary, overwritten, etc. It definitely needed a lot of work [on every page], but even it wasn't too bad.
I've read in writers' memoirs how they looked at some story or article they published at the beginning of their careers and gasped at how bad it was -- unable to believe any editor wanted it in the first place. I keep telling myself I should be more critical of myself and see similar flaws in my old stuff -- but I rarely do. Actually, I usually end up crying "Hey! This is pretty good!" again.
Well, I scribble and type and delete and copy, and as the days and weeks pass I slow down to a trickle, wondering if what I'm working on is worth it. I need the occasional egoboo (as older fans called it) to keep going. Glad I can find it on my shelf of Mike Winkle publications! (Yes, I have a bookshelf with nothing but magazines and books with my efforts in them. Wanna make something of it?)
