What's the hold up?

I think I see your problem . . . or the thunder scares me.

Writing speed has been the major obstacle between me and professional writing. It's been a continual struggle and mystery to me as to why my fiction writing takes such a long time. Now that I'm becoming more and more organized in my approach, I've been able to spot something that gives me the obvious answer: I edit/rewrite a lot. That is to say, a lot for any writer.

Take chapter five in The Feral Bond. I've gone over it, rewriting and editing, a total of twenty-three times. Chapter six I've rewritten sixteen times now.

Why couldn't I spot this before? Because I just wasn't organized enough. I would go back and make changes by random choice, just as rewrites of random spots, but I did those not as a rewrite/edit from beginning to end of the chapter. It probably added up to as much or more rewriting than I currently do. Now that I'm actually making regular passes, I can see how much I'm driven to rewrite.

The good news for me is it isn't OCD, it isn't rewriting for rewriting's sake. It does have an end, a point where I know I've done enough of it, a point where I'm satisfied with the work. It just takes an incredible amount of changing, tweaking and tinkering to get there. My initial rewrites have major changes, and they diminish. 

Now, if I could just get more done with fewer passes. That would be the answer. I'll see if practice brings improvement.