Editing your own work is hard.

I began the re-reading of this manuscript today and it is more brutal than I had imagined.  There are obviously parts you want to kiss and hold dear and then the next paragraph will make you feel like a hack and want to throw the whole thing into a wastebasket.

I suppose this is par for the course, especially for a first time novelist.  I will say that even though I wrote this without an outline my background in screenplay writing, which is almost purely structural, helped immensely.

There is a story here most importantly.  Prose can be manipulated or removed all together but we need our hero to go through his ups and downs (as demonstrated so brilliantly by Mr. Vonnegut.)

This process will be taxing, but simultaneously rewarding.

If nothing else, I just want to continue to grow as a writer.

I may need a beer or two as I re-read this, but to paraphrase Peter de Vries: "Write sober, edit drunk or write drunk, edit sober."