Flashing back
I spent the better part of last night going through my old short stories from 1995-1997. I expected that they would be fairly unpolished and painful to read: I had very little worldly experience at the time I was writing them. That said some were unreadable-- in particular my poetry which was inspired by the "Spoken Word" movement of the late 90's.
In retrospect that, along with postmodernism, was probably my most unfortunate artistic influence. I frequently ruined perfectly decent prose with the injection of poetry slam solecisms or experimental absurdism.
On the upside, I was a surprisingly good young writer. Provided the characters are well conceived and acting within motivation, my dialogue kicked ass. Taking a decade off has certainly given me a fresh perspective on my opus of work-- it's been so long I forgot what I wrote so it really is like reading a stranger's fiction. In fact some of it could probably be published... with a little editing.
What I did find is that the pieces I like the best now were not ones I remember being favorites at the time. And some works I thought would be utterly dreadful (my heterosexual S&M story) are actually almost perfect. Even some of the experimental stuff had a certain clever charm and humor to it.
In short it was a very encouraging experience. Obviously I need to get back into practice-- it's been probably two years since I finished a story. Ten since I finished one I actually liked. In the mean time, I can edit some of the older stuff and try to find it a home somewhere.
I'm not going for printed lit mags of any kind since I don't know anyone who actually reads them; much less buys them. Not that I would turn down an offer-- but I think part of my problem when submitting to these places originally was that I didn't know my audience or I tried too hard to make something fit arbitrary editorial guidelines.
I'll do creative commons license and submit through online publications or forums (since people do read free stuff on the Internet). Some, if not all, of it will be posted here. I don't care about money or academic credibility, just building a reputation and audience with quality work.
Quick update: Jack RSVP'd that he would try to attend my party.