Reworking old projects

When you improve in your career, you will look back on the things you once did with horror and want to change them all. However, this takes away from your ability to do new things, which are frankly going to be better than what you did in the past.

This recently happened to me with book formatting. I leveled up considerably in my book formatting, learned a lot, and looked back on everything I had ever done with horror.

Here is my advice.

If you’re going to go back and change things, only change what you can do in a single day, ideally in a couple of hours.

For instance, if you hate a cover for a book, you can relatively easily hire a new cover designer. If you find the book was riddled with errors, then hiring a proofreader is cost-effective and quick. If you need to format a book, you can do that in an hour or so.

Do not go back and rewrite a book from scratch, or do massive edits, because it will take time from you creating better things.

My one caveat is this. if the book or project is the start of a series which you plan on continuing for a while, then it makes sense to go back and do edits, but when it’s something that is a short series, or a one-off, just let it go and appreciate that it was a snapshot in time.

I know people who redraw or rewrite their old work ad nauseam, sometimes for months, instead of getting on with the business of creating new things.

New things will always be better than old things, because you are a better creator now than you were when you originally wrote your work. Additionally, new launches should bring in much more revenue then fixing your old work.

Don’t get too hung up on that stuff from the past. Look forward.