Rewriting.

I've seen a number of writers who push the Heinlein rule of never re-writing stories. As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of Heinlein's writing rules. I believe they worked for Heinlein at a time in his life when he was required to churn out short stories in order to make some money, but recently these rules have been lifted to some kind of mystical status among writers, chanted like a sacred mantra that will guarantee money, fame and success for those who follow.

I have a couple of pretty good stories that I wrote a year or more ago but had no takers. These are stories which I quite like, but with the development of my writing skills and better understanding of story construction I can now see the flaws in them.

A spare hour here, a spare hour there, a quick re-write and out they go into the publishing world.

I've recently sold two stories that went through this process, and I'm thrilled to soon be able to see them in print. And that's much better than languishing hidden in a metaphorical bottom drawer.