I really don't like editing

Do you prefer writing or re-writing?

First up, I know that editing makes written work better. Exponentially better, in fact. I fully acknowledge this fact, and have seen it in my own work that has benefited from multiple revisions. The problem is that I find the process excruciatingly dull.

A part of my brain finds it difficult to go back over a manuscript and redraft it, and that’s the case whether it’s general nips and tucks or simple (ha, simple!) copy proofing. Apparently I’m hard-wired to enjoy the writing process itself, when the words are coming out hot from the forge, but am less enamoured with the essential bits that come after.

The exception is in a more drastic structural edit or total re-write. That feels more like writing a manuscript for the first time but with the assistance of a map drawn up by an adventurous ancestor; a map that shows all the hidden pits and spiked traps.