When I was living in Japan I visited home about once every eighteen months. On such trips I would comment on how much my nieces had grown. My sister was usually surprised by this, as she'd not noticed it to the same extent I had. But then she'd been with them daily and not noticed the gradual growth.
Recently I've had to edit a piece I originally wrote a couple of years ago. Sure, it had been through a couple of rewrites since then, but I'd not read it since last year. I was amazed at how many flaws I found in the piece. Since it is slated for publication and had already been accepted (and been through an editor), I had to resist the urge to rewrite entire chunks of the story.
Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a good story. But I was able to recognise exactly how much I've learned in the past six months or so. And how my current writing has improved.
It is worth revisiting your past.
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