Novel Editing – How Probably Not to Do It

I have spent the last a lot of days trying to edit my novel. And trying to add another 20,000 words to it so I can finish my MPhil and win the (and I am ashamed to say this but this is a sign of my obvious desperation) Daily Mail novel competition. The prize is a lot of money. Which I could do with. Mostly to buy time. Mostly to write. Mostly to avoid getting a real and proper job instead of running a real and proper publishing company which makes no real and proper money.

Editing a novel is HARD. Editing a novel you have written is REALLY HARD. Mostly because you already know what happens.
Here’s how it goes:

Read some bit. Think, well that’s ok. But it needs more. Add some bits. Look at the word count. It has crept up a bit. Good. Read another bit. Think well that’s crap. Delete that bit. Look at the word count. It has gone back down to what it was before. Damn.
And so it goes on.

Days and days later nothing much seems to have changed. Except a lot of time has gone by. So the house is still filthy, the cat is still hungry, the children are still wondering where their mother is.