Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.

I've never liked it much when people bitch and moan about how hard something is.

"Try not.  Do or do not.  There is no try."

Re-writing is hard.  It seems to take twice as much effort as the original writing.  Partly because it's endless.  There is always more you can do.  Always a word choice.  Always a slight tweak.

I'm giving Led to the Slaughter the proper rewrite it deserves.  I saw that cool cover and thought:  "Is this as good as I can make it?"  So I delved in, and before I knew it I was giving it a top to bottom polish.

I had thought it was more or less complete, but I'm adding telling details as much as possible, and it is improving the book, expanding it, fleshing it out.

The only chapter I'm worried about is the first chapter -- not because it hasn't been worked on, but because it's been worked on a lot.  I'm afraid of "over-writing" or making is seem too "writerly."

I'm finishing the re-write before I go back to the original draft and try to find the most essential improvements on that first chapter -- pare it back just slightly.  Everything I've added has been an improvement, but strange to say, I think you can have too many improvements.

Meanwhile, I think most of what I've added or changed has been an improvement and I guess I have to admit that re-writing is a good idea.

But my god it takes time.   I'm about halfway through after two weeks -- working very long days.  I suppose that doesn't seem like a long time, and it is what a book needs.  The book deserves the best I can do.  So I'll be back at it in the coming days and finish up the rewrite and then read it through.

I'm proud of myself for making the extra effort -- though I probably shouldn't be -- the extra effort should probably always be made.