Editing surprises

I'm fascinated by the process of revisions and editing. I don't know if I'm simply an exceptionally bad writer and editor, or if this is how it happens for everyone. But I don't want to believe it gets this way for everyone. How would anyone ever get anything finished?

The problem is that I have been going through the finished manuscript with a very strict electronic red pen, which in reality is the "delete" button. It was going pretty well and I thought that finishing the second draft would take a week tops. Then, before I moved on to the next chapters I decided to re-read what I'd edited to see if it makes any sense at all. I had that intention today. And yesterday. And the day before that. For chapter 1.

I just finished going through the chapter the tenth time and I'm still changing things. How is that possible? I've gotten rid of almost 2,000 words in one chapter alone, cut two minor characters along with their respective minor storylines in that chapter, arranged and rearranged the order of certain sentences, then cut some of them altogether and changing everything still.

The odds are that tomorrow I'll come home from school and drastically change the manuscript for an eleventh time. I don't know how many more things I can cut without intending to. At first I was really trying to cut anything that wasn't absolutely needed because I had to cut 8,000 words out of the manuscript and I couldn't think of cutting that much. I knew I wasn't going to cut any scenes, only alter them a little bit. The process changed in a matter of a day. Now I'm just looking for something that doesn't feel right. And it's seriously lowering my self-esteem to find that there is a lot of that.

Sigh.

And here I thought I was going to get through the whole novel in a week. That was Sunday. Today is Wednesday. And I'm not even sure that I'm done with chapter 1.

Jane

P.S. I see two good things here. Or perhaps three. First, perhaps I'm working on #1 so hard because it's the beginning and it has to be properly portrayed. Maybe the others won't take so much time. Second, I really feel like with each time I go through it, the thing keeps getting better. Who would have thought, right? And third, I might just be growing artistically as an editor. And you know what that means... growing pains. I certainly hope that is the case. Hopefully I'll be able to do all this in two or three edits next time.