I am editing Shenanigans for probably the seventh or eighth ( and hopefully final) time – and I don’t mean seven or eight drafts. I edit in ‘batches’, so I’ll edit two or three ‘drafts’ of the same book each time I edit. Then I need a break from the book. All of this in the four or five years since I finished the first draft. I’ve changed the POV, tense, the entire ending. It’s ~75000 words and I’d venture to guess I’ve cut and rewritten another ~30000 words. They had to go.
That all said, my Small Victory is simply the fact that I’ve grown enough as a writer to be editing – and making important changes – for an eighth time. Sub Victory is that I’m still writing however many years later.
I talk/write/blog a lot about growth, both self growth and in my writing. I think it’s important that we evolve because that is the essence of what keeps us relevant – to each other, to society, to our chosen craft. If we don’t grow, we simply stagnate and the world leaves us behind.
So, rather than be sad that I’m editing (still, again, forever…) I’m choosing to find the Small Victory.
♥SB