Bespoke Edited

It is kind of a Catch-22. I cash flow my operation, and I was shafted by my first two editors, so I self-edited everything from the initial release of The Third Test until the Second Initiative. I didn't have the resources or (more crucially) the writer connections, to do anything that wouldn't result in debt or disappointment. It was a humbling experience, because I'm frankly a little retarded. My storytelling was solid, and it improved over time, but my editing (particularly in the form of punctuation and catching typos) was lacking. BUT- It was "good enough" that I earned money and made the connections to beta readers, proofreaders, and (finally) professional editors who I could trust with my work. Recently, I went back in and worked with a combination of editors and proofreaders (big thank you to @The_Lord_Otter ) to "scrub" The Third Test and Among the Juniper Trees to bring it to the level it needed to be. Or, to put it bluntly, it should have been on initial release. Thankfully, I make enough profit now where I can pay an editor to go over my books before they are published. Looking back now, would I do it the same way? The truth is, I don't know. The depressed artist in me knows that I've probably alienated readers with the lower quality components to my early editions. The kinder part of me recognizes that I would've probably given up writing, or ended up in a lot of debt because I gave money to people who would not do right by me, my work, or my money since I lacked the experience and connections. The realist in me recognizes that both are true, AND I'm better off because there were people honest enough to point out my errors early on into my "career". All pride goes out the window and gratitude enters like a welcome guest rather than a nosy neighbor. TLDR; There is truth in the hot take AND there is nuance in the journey. Also, I am grateful to the readers who made it past the Error Era and kept with it. Rock on, Space Cowboys!