In the beginning

Good morning!

I've been perusing an old external drive over the last couple of days. 
I have found some gems. 
What I was looking for was the first killerbyte file. I thought it'd be fun to see the progression (from a teaching perspective), most people know the original version of KB was third-person and very different to how it is today. 
Well, I found it. 
I found comments from 2004 from people who read that book. 
There weren't many. (A select few.)
I also found the comment that changed everything.
Gali told me to get closer to the story and Ellie. He said the story needed to be first-person. 
I argued, saying I didn't want to be that close. 
He asked me to try it.

When I did, the whole world changed. Ellie came alive. She became part of me or I became part of her. 
I could see everything and I knew that I got it all wrong originally. 
I knew from the first sentence that SHE had stories to tell and I would be along for the ride until she had nothing left to say.

But now I have those files, the first two renditions of Killerbyte that came before the 2009 Rebel ePublishers beautifully edited by Jayne Southern version you've come to love.
What I thought I'd do was add them to my course notes, to show students how getting the story out is all that matter in the beginning. I can pull excerpts out to compare. Thought that might be fun, because, it's very hard to imagine the beginning of something not being like the polished finished product when all you've seen is the end result.
Writers get caught up in creating perfection when they should be telling the story so there is something to polish.