There is not a single paper I published that I wouldn’t have changed in retrospect. Usually it’s because I regret giving in too quickly to bad “suggestions” from referees. But even when I was happy with the final version of the paper when I submitted it, I see things differently after a couple of months. Luckily, the journal system, with all its faults, at least don’t let us keep rewriting our papers. Otherwise, we might have got this
1 comment
August 31, 2011 at 10:15 pm
Jonathan Weinstein
It’s hard to fathom that George Lucas has no comprehension of what people liked about his movies. For the most notorious previous example, search for “Greedo shoots first.”
I read a column by novelist Michael Cunningham last year that had something on this topic that stuck with me…something like “There is no final draft, just the version you submit when the deadline hits.”