It’s the ten year anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Runaways: The Long Journey Home. Curious to see if I had improved as a writer over the last ten years—and eleven books later—I decided to begin rereading all of my books in the order in which I wrote them. 

So far, I see my biggest growth over time has been in the technical aspects, in sentence structure, vocabulary, and point of view.

Runaways is filled with flawed characters who face the challenges of life—and I have continued on that path for the rest of my books. My message of hope and forgiveness has run throughout the last ten years. I suspect future books will also proclaim the same central theme because if there’s anything the world needs right now, it’s hope and forgiveness.

I am enjoying the process of reading my own work after such a long period of time. I think it would prove to be a good exercise for any author wanting to improve their craft.

If you’re a writer, share your thoughts on this process and what you’d like to discover about yourself.