I just started posting a "new" story. My use of quotes there is both intentional and appropriate. I'll explain.
When you've written as many stories as I have, and done it over the time span I have, a very real concern is that you're going to end up writing the same story twice and not realize it. I know there are people out there who will say, "What? Give me a break. He writes the same story over and over and over again! There's a younger woman paired with an older man, they have sex, and she gets pregnant."
In one sense those people are right. But then, if you describe a story with those few details, then a million authors have written the same story.
So that definition of "same story" aside, let me explain what I meant.
I make notes in small files about story ideas I like and might want to develop some day. It's basically just a skeletonized version of the plot idea and, if it came from a reader, that person's email address, so I can let them know if I complete it. I store those in a folder titled: projects folder
Normally, when I do develop the idea, I load that file, expand on it, and then save it in a different place. Then I delete the original one from the projects folder.
I wrote a story in 2012 but didn't delete the skeleton file from the projects folder. I just forgot to, apparently.
So, in 2018, being old and confused, I saw it (again), liked it (again), and wrote it ... again.
Think of it like a carpenter who builds a stool, gives it away, and then five or six years later needs something to sit on and builds another one. They're going to be very much alike ... but not exactly the same.
So if you want to know the difference in how I thought about things then, and now, read the story.
The original is called Posing Uncle Bob and this one is called Not-so-super Model. The really sad part is that it wasn't my idea in the first place. The foreword to the first story explains that.
There's a little more information in the foreword to this one, as well.
I will endeavor not to do this again.