The Endless Pile of Drafts

I've always heard that you need to edit a story several times before it's ready to share. Usually I hear something between six to twelve revisions.

Though in one book, I read that Steven King would revise only once (at least when he was younger. I don't know if that's something he kept up).

I just read author notes on one book I really love (I reread The Slow Regard of Silent Things). He said he revised it 80 times, and that was on the light side for him.


It's oddly reassuring. I've gone through so many drafts of Katani's story. And no matter how good I think I've done part of it, I always end up trashing a bunch of it when I look at it again.


I don't know how many times I've read through the whole thing. A lot. It kinda feels like running in circles. Though I hope that each circle is at least a bit higher than the last one.
I've been working really hard on this last draft, so hopefully it shows.

It's almost like: "I've done this many drafts, and it still isn't right?"

At least I know that I'm not alone in having so many revisions. So that makes me feel better.