Why does editing take sooooo long?

First drafts are easy for me. I fling them out in no time. Then I edit and edit and edit and edit. It takes an age. I have to work on paper because my brain thinks differently when there's a pen in my hand, not a keyboard underneath. I'm like a school teacher - correcting spelling, grammar, sentence structure, order, deepening motivation, tweaking words. Then when the paper writing's done, time to transfer it to the computer file. Strangely enough more editing happens at this stage too!

At the moment the majority of editing is making sure I don't flick from past tense to present tense and back again - sometimes within one sentence! And taking out extra words (eg that) that I love to put in. :)

When I change the tense, I often have to re-write sentences. It makes me laugh that I can't just change the wrong words, but I have to change other words because they sound silly there when it's changed to present tense. Strange how my brain works.

Anyway... shouldn't be long now before I send my novella to my critique group for their last comments. Then I can hold my breath while I find a publisher to submit it to... or two or three or four. Maybe I shouldn't hold my breath!!