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Is reading your past work important?

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I won't lie, I read what I've previously written a lot, along with the comments, to avoid repeating myself, as well to see where I've succeeded and failed in writing. Does anyone else find rereading their previous pieces an important part of the writing process?
 
Yah, I go back and re-read through all my old stuff periodically....it helps me look at it with a fresh eye because I find there's always stuff here that I completely forgot I wrote until I stumble across it again....

Also interesting to identify recurrent themes/devices etc which may not have been so obvious to me when I was actually doing it...
 
So important after a long period of tiem has gone by. I am the able to look back and actually see the situation or the feelings as they were and not how i wish they could be. I can also add to the pieces, as I've had a chance to process the distance.
 
im all about patterns seen and unseen and my writting is no different. I have different epochs in which my writting took on a smoother edge and others where it was disjointed but fresh almost invigorating. I try to corrolate those times and understand the reasoning. That way i dont force styles im not really ready for before im ready....

anywho i think its part of hte process especially in self centric poetry to look inward and sometimes that means back.
 
I do this too. I think it's good to see where you come from but sometimes i think i'm actually getting worse :p lol
 
Not as important as writing your next piece. But knowing where you have come from is key.
 
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i don't really write anymore but i love to read my old stuff,
sometime its hard to read to much cause ive done must of my writing when i was :( , and those place are dark..
but at the same time thats what make it good, or better..
it help me understand where im now
what im about

(oh, last time my impression were : how freaking romantic it can get with the moment, the now, when you are suicidal....its intense.. each detail might become a ghost )
 
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I've written several fairly long posts on this board now while sitting up too late drinking beer that I just could not quite seem to bring to a close. So I put them in my journal instead and went to bed.

Having reread them the next day each time I've been glad I did not post them. LOL!!!
 
I am of simiilar caste to ninjadanslarbretabar. I wrote heaps and heaps when i was :(, some of it is truly brilliant; so much so as to be of another character or author when I read back.
It is important to keep the things you do, however delusional or abstract or nonsensical. It's important so you can look back at it when you are clearer, better, happier, sadder etc etc. You can offset your current state against your past state and make a judgement or even be inspired by something you forgot about long ago. Your past has as much difference to change your present life as much as anything else happening...

Needless to say i probably have hundreds upon hundreds of diary entries, short stories, poems, essays etc etc that I have kept in either physical or virtual form. Months ago i started typing out my mood diaries which were diaries kept strictly to document my mood for my doctor, who read them and then offered advice and shit. Just reading what sort of headspace i was once in influenced my present headspace.

Don't lose touch with your legacy i say ~!
 
Interesting thread...

I read over my old stuff fairly often. A lot of it is on my blog, and I like to revise my old work, while trying to remain true to the original spirit of the piece (I keep drafts of the older versions though). I'm currently in the process of putting together my first collection of poetry, so by necessity I'm having to read over and revise a lot of my work. At the moment I've probably got 20 or so poems that I'm happy with, and about the same number of poems that still need substantial editing / rewriting.

As for the really old stuff that I wrote when I was 17-19, most of that is stashed away in folders. It's always an experience pulling that stuff out and reading through it: so much darkness, violence, despair. But also a lot of experimentation and crazy ideas that make me smile.
 
It's EXTREMELY important to me.

Because if I don't notice a MARKED improvement in the quality of my writing from six months ago to the quality of my writing today . . .

. . . that's an indicator that I haven't been flexing my writing muscles as much as I should be, and it inspires me to work harder at improving going forward.
 
I definitely do. For one, it helps keep it fresh in my mind for an occasional impromtu rap/beat box session. Also, it remindes me of what I've done in the past, so I can try and stay fresh. I also like being reminded of my mood and what was happening around me when I wrote certain pieces.
 
I love reflecting old pieces as for me they are like taking a mental photograph of the exact mindstate I was in when I wrote them. It's like going through a photo album, and quite often i'm reminded of places in my mind that i've been, but forgotten how to access. I'm sometimes so greatful to visit these places in my mind again that it inspires me to write upon its impact into further excavations of thought.

I like to write poems that abstractly reflect spiritual development, so I can share with others where i'm at, and remind myself how far I have come, not only as a writer but spiritually to.
 
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