It’s Okay to Rewrite What You’ve Already Written

I Thought the Poem Was Finished

A week ago I posted a poem on my Instagram account titled Me and This Well. At first, I posted a reel of myself reading it then I made a post with it written out. Want to know what I noticed? I rewrote it. Not entirely but in small areas, a word here and a word there. When I first wrote it I thought I was finished, that I had used all the words I wanted but I had not. The reel itself took me four different drafts before I posted it, not only because I was scared of recording myself but because with each recording I kept changing the words and restructuring the lines.

Once I had settled on a version I liked, I posted it. I then had to listen to that recording to write down the changes I had made to post the poem itself. I thought I was finished. But when I went to post it on the website I found more changes I wanted to make. A small word here, grammar correction here or a line break there.

I wasn’t planning to touch the piece again but as I read through it, I noticed spelling errors I had made, a word I thought would fit better, and expressions I wanted to change.

Then I wondered, If I’ve already shared this piece, not once but twice, is it okay to change it again?

Just Because It’s Published Doesn’t Mean It’s Finished

To others, the changes might seem insignificant and unnecessary because they are able to understand the piece but to me it was necessary. Each piece is an embodiment of me and I want the best piece of myself out there.

I hoped each piece of the poem I had posted was the final version but it wasn’t. This is something I believe all writers endure. When we press the button to “publish” our work, we are initially closing a chapter, finally saying “the end” to a piece we have poured our soul into, even when the writing itself might have room to evolve.

But just because it’s published, doesn’t mean it’s finished. There will always be changes we wish to make, a grammar we forgot to correct or an emotion we wished we could have explained better. Publication is just a part of the journey for that piece, not the end.

Returning to My Poem With Fresh Eyes

When I was typing out the poem to put on my website, the first thing I noticed were the spelling errors, two to be exact. In my rush to get it posted, I didn’t notice them as they were small but still they were wrong.

That was it. Just two words in the final three stanzas of the poem. It was nothing that would entirely change the way the poem read or complicate the understanding of what I was trying to say. It’s normal to have errors revolving around punctuation and grammar, it only becomes a problem if you let those errors become the only thing you see when you look at a piece you have written.

I could have let those two errors slide because I am human, I make errors, and I miss things but as I read through the piece to ensure I wasn’t overlooking anymore I noticed that I didn’t like the flow of certain words. Again. I wanted to change it and well I did. To be honest, as I write this while comparing both pieces I am still making changes. It doesn’t stop. I want to ensure a barrier does not lie between the piece and the person who reads it, so If I see a word I can change to ensure that barrier doesn’t exist I will make that change.

Just like the spelling errors, the words I wanted to change were small. Instead of “vase” I now wanted “frame“, instead of “but yet” I just wanted “yet“, and I no longer wanted the title to be short.

Every change was minor but it read better to me with those changes. I don’t want to say perfect because nothing is ever perfect. Writing is never perfect and will never be. Writing is about creating a mess with the words in your head on paper. A mess that someone else can connect to and make sense of. It’s not always straight forward. You won’t always tell the reader straight out what you were feeling when you wrote that piece, because there is usually more than one emotion involved. There is always more than one answer.

Editing Isn’t Erasing What Came Before

Editing the piece did not invalidate the version I shared before, instead I would like to believe it enhanced it. It showed that change can still happen while something is already existing. The posts are an authentic expression of what I felt and how I felt when I wrote it. Do I feel the need to delete the original post and only keep up the revised work? Yes. Do I want to be seen as someone who does not make errors? Yes but that would be a lie. I make errors. My work is not always perfect. Sometimes it is the words and honestly sometime the emotion just doesn’t come through but as a writer it’s my job to revise, correct and implement. Not appear perfect.

Earlier I mentioned how I was still making changes and that’s just part of the journey. I’m not erasing what I had before (I want to) but I need to be able to look back at what I had and how I grew. I could keep those changes to myself and just leave the polished version up each time but I want others to see my growth as well and to see my imperfections.

With the revisions I made today, I feel as though the meaning and understanding behind the poem has changed… so I will publish it but along side the original piece. I’m not erasing what came before, just adding to it.

Sometimes We Grow and Our Writing Grows With Us

I’ve had this website for years. Through WordPress migrations, hosting server changes, name and domain changes and it has grown with me. It showcases moments I didn’t want to show myself, moments I felt on top of the world and moments when I just wanted to be seen and heard. As I’ve grown, so has this website, even in its dormant stage.

Our writing is a reflection of who we are. It grows when we grow, hides when we hide, soars when we soar and transforms when we do.

I’ve spent the past few days revising my older posts and making changes. What I saw as whole when I first posted them, now seemed incomplete. Our perspectives, vocabulary, experiences and creative instincts change over time.Therefore, when I returned to my older writing, I brought a different version of myself to that page. In my mind, the words remained the same but my understanding of what I was trying to say had.

Giving Yourself Permission to Revisit Your Words

I had to give myself permission to revisit my words. It’s not that I was restricted but more so that I had to tell myself it was okay to edit what I already had written. I wasn’t changing the meaning behind it, I wasn’t erasing what I had created but more so editing to improve expression. My words remained, but my understanding grew.

It’s one thing to edit a piece to improve expression but it’s another to edit because you constantly feel as though your work is not good enough. It’s okay to edit it as long as you are able to maintain who you were and what what you wanted to say when you first wrote it.

I encourage you to take a look at a previous work you had previously hit “publish” on or finally “closed” the chapter on. Whether it be an old poem, blog post, journal entry or other creative piece, revisit that piece without feeling obligated to preserve every word. Revising is okay and so is leaving a piece alone. If you revisit an old piece and found that the meaning, words and understanding remain the same, it is okay to close back that chapter.

Walk away.

The Words Are Still Mine

The words are still mine. The original mattered and so did the revised version. Each version of every piece I have ever written or will write will always matter. They do not cancel the other, only support. Maybe the beauty of writing, isn’t about getting it perfect the first time but in being able to listen . The words speak to us, we may be the ones who piece them together but they speak to us. The pieces allow us to return, listen and discover what we meant to say or maybe to discover that what we had to say was never truly expressed.

Have you ever returned to something you had written and realized you wanted to change it? Did you make the edits, or did you leave it untouched?

Keep Exploring

Read the poem in its original and revised form, Me and The Echoes of This Barren Well

Explore the Creative Writing Prompts

Or check out our Journal entry section

With love and a little ink,

Primrose.

Last Updated on 10/13/2026 by Primrose