Rewrite or Leave as Is

I've been doing some editing the past two weeks, everything I do keeps bringing me back to this quote.

“I have been correcting the proofs of my poems. In the morning, after hard work, I took a comma out of one sentence…. In the afternoon I put it back again.” ~Oscar Wilde

Sometimes it might be best to walk away

I am surprised at how many times I have rewrote something in the margin and later scratch that out and write in bold red  - LEAVE AS IS

The good news is the weather is great in Wyoming and my golf game is already getting to mid-season form. Almost time to plant the garden and do some more editing.

Write it and Retire - Rich and Famous

In every walk of life there are people who flash brilliantly for a short while never to return. It’s interesting to look at people in the creative arts and how they sometime will back off after reaching early success. Although some of the following authors wrote a few short stories a novella or two, or as in Pasternak’s case, a lot of poetry, none wrote another novel. Why not? Some hated the limelight, others were afraid of criticism, others turned their talents elsewhere. Not sure anyone in today’s world would give up so quickly after writing a best seller.

How many of these famous, one novel and out people, have you read?

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago

Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

J. D. Salinger, The Catcher In The Rye

What do you think, if you wrote the big one would you just hang it up and live off the riches and glory of that novel?