The Lines I Didn't Publish (No.2)

Notes from behind the editors desk: What didn’t make the latest essay (and why).

This week, I posed a question about revisiting old writing:

I wanted to know if writers, once they’re 10,000-hours-deep stop wanting to edit earlier work. Whether these literary deities peacefully read old texts, puff on a cig and think, “Fuck, I’m good.” Or is it part human nature (and growth) to forever find adjustments?

Comments on that note ranged from: yes, forever cringing and wanting to edit old work, to: no, earlier writing is a preserved artifact of time/place and shan’t be touched, you optimizing pleb (this part was adlibbed).

I like and agree with both angles.

In content marketing, not essaying, best practice is to update published articles every six months. This helps the algo-Gods bless our digital fruits. But writing isn’t marketing, and in the traditional sense, perhaps a published work should be locked in (just like it would be in print).

Regardless of your preferred flavour, I’ve been revisiting my catalogue of essays. I’m thinking more and more about bundling them into a self-published—yes, printed—collection, and want to get a sense of whether my older posts pass today’s sniff test.

As I leaf(blow) through 75,000 words, the long and short is both yes and no.

While I stand by the premises and most of the copy, I want to take a red marker to all “finished” pieces. I find my earlier Substack stuff too show-boaty, blown out, and with inevitable errors.

Note: With remarkable frequency, I use the idiom, “Without further ado” in my writing. Only, I’ve spelt it, “Without further adieu” like a beret-wearing Parisian bidding farewell.

Revisting earlier works is where my latest essay, It’s Just You Thinking About You, stems from.

It’s a rewrite of a 2023 piece called Truth #1: You’re Not That Important. Yes, a rewrite—sue me!

The original essay had some great lines, but when I revisited it through the lens of Would I print this today?, it needed love and refinement.

And so, without further ado, here is the 2023 version with today’s edits overlaid.