Two Things I've Learned Editing My Novel

I've been working away at new edits for the novel, cobbling together little bits of time here and there. I'm not used to that as a work schedule, but it's the only one that life permits at the moment, and I'm finding it more effective than I would have imagined. I've realized two things.

1. That these edits are very necessary.
2. That once these are done I really need to stop.

My mantra has been to simplify, simplify, simplify. I'm trying to cut away anything that's not essential, but in doing so, I'm realizing this story wants to be a little complicated. That's all right, if I can whittle away the extraneous bits and leave it at its complex core, but from a larger perspective, I'd love to work on a simpler story.

It's also gone through so many layers at this point, sometimes it's hard to find the real story underneath it all. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.