I love writing but I used to hate redrafting and editing. As my skills developed I have grown to love them both. They do not create such a feeling of satisfaction but they are fulfilling. Redrafting and editing is hard work. There is always great enjoyment to be gained from completing something difficult.

After I have produced the first draft I immediately start redrafting while it is still fresh in my mind.

I read through and begin fleshing out the bones. While my first draft may be forty or fifty thousand words, my second draft could be a third longer. It is as if the first draft is a skeleton on which I then place the flesh.

This is also the time when I attempt to focus on the areas that do not really work and rework them. This is when I flesh out characters, look at consistency, address areas of the plot so that it makes sense and start addressing grammar, punctuation and flow.

Usually, I will then leave the novel in order to gain more objectivity.

When I am ready and eager, I come back to it. The second redraft is the process of making the reading a smoother process. This is where I begin addressing sentence and paragraph structure in order to make the language flow.

My second redraft will usually add more words to the novel.

By the time I have completed the second draft I am usually ready to edit, but I may well play about with certain sections that I have been unhappy with until I am satisfied.

At this point, I am usually exhausted by the process and the novel. I need a break from it. Writing and redrafting require great concentration and effort. You have to hold the whole structure of the book in your head and mentally manipulate it. I always need a break.

As I normally have two or three projects going at the same time I can turn my attention elsewhere and happily leave it.

By the time I have completed redrafting it is ready to go off to my editor. Editing requires objectivity.