Laugh Now Or Cry Later

Have you ever come across an old story you wrote but never published? Did you find yourself laughing at the grammatical errors and the immaturity of your writing style?

I found an old story that I wrote back in 1993–two decades ago, and I could not stop laughing! I remember writing the story during my freshman year in college and everyone loved it. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they were just as immature as I was.

After discovering the manuscript, I pondered over the fact that we writers take ourselves too seriously these days, and we really should learn to laugh more. Our egos are easily shattered by the slightest form of criticism, even if it’s constructive criticism. You see, your editor is doing you a favor when they correct your manuscript. He or she is saving you from murdering your writing career. So many of us resist making the necessary changes to our manuscripts because we’re afraid we will lose our voice. However, we have to think about the outcome of the story, and not the process.

So, the next time you receive your mark-ups from your editor–pause, take a deep breath and then just laugh out loud. It’s better to laugh now than to cry later from humiliation.