Thanks for that. I've found a good way to remove my darlings without 'killing' them: anything which I like but doesn't work gets cut-and-pasted into a word document. I just checked and that document is 78000 words and counting.
Of course, it's extremely satisfying when text gets cut-and-pasted the other way!!
Oh that is interesting! Thank you for sharing it!
its a nerve racking experience especially for you first time. thanks for the above. its help me go back and revise (yet again).. wish a magic fairy would take it away and edit, give me all the pretty words i want to hear ...lol yeah not going to happen. back to the pen.
I think the advice on the time away is so important. I've found that when I've come back to something too early, I can almost feel it because it's still familiar. If I wait long enough, it's almost as if I'm reading it for the first time, and I notice all sorts of things that I wouldn't otherwise.
I have been doing the time out with my current story and it seems to work well. Gone is the rush now and the ideas and words have time to click in place.