I've been going through some stuff I wrote 3-4 years ago and it's bad.

[Great Rumbler]

Really bad. I actually had to delete some it because I couldn't stand the thought of someone else reading it.

On the other hand, the fact that I know it's bad and, more importantly, can tell why it's bad does give me some additional hope for the stuff I'm writing at the moment.

[Fittisize]

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. You shoulda held on to it - it's is your life.

[A Black Falcon]

Fortunately, I still have almost all of the games I designed back in elementary school... on paper, that is. I lost everything I did in Klik & Play in the years after that, though, because of tragedy (hard drive going bad) and stupidity (not copying them over to our new computer after we got it). :(

... but at least I do have all those older ones I designed... it's probably the "never want to get rid of anything" in me, but I could never imagine throwing any of it away. So some of the ideas were weird or bad... so? It was mine.

That said, many artists, writers, etc throw out their old work all the time, convinced that "it's not good enough". Is this sometimes true? Perhaps. But are they way too close to it to really be able to objectively tell? Yeah, most likely.

[Great Rumbler]

I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. You shoulda held on to it - it's is your life.

All those embarassing things I did when I was a kid [or, like, yesterday] are my life too, that doesn't necessarily mean that I want to keep remembering them with such vivid clarity.

Nah man, this stuff was bad, irredeemably bad. At best they would only serve to remind me of how far I'd come, but I've already got enough material I'm committed to keeping that will serve that purpose.

But are they way too close to it to really be able to objectively tell? Yeah, most likely.

These weren't stories that I'd spent years and years writing and I hadn't even looked at them in, oh, probably four years at least. Believe me when I say this, reading what I'd written back then was physically painful. They were awful and not just in terms of writing quality, but also just how simple-minded they were.

Most of them were just story outlines anyway, so no big loss.

I've moved on from that, so no need to cling to the past and try to give some sentimental value to something that I'll never revisit.

[lazyfatbum]

It could be worse. The stuff you wrote 3 or 4 years ago could be better than what you write now.

Imagine the nights of cutting yourself after dropping that shitbomb on your ego.

[Great Rumbler]

Thankfully that's not the case. My writing has steadly improved over the years, although it's probably tapered a bit recently since I haven't been able to devote as much time to writing as I'd like to.

Also, I had a burst of genius recently and just came up with a great idea for a story. If I had to rank it against all the other ideas I've had, it's probably at or near the top in terms of how well it'll translate into an interesting story.