My Writing Process - Part 4 - Editing

Editing, I swear it is what I do more and more these days as I am now publishing.  Gone are the days of just writing, writing, writing and storing it up until I can get it out there.
Editing is a very crucial and tedious process, and even through writing both my dissertations, it was just a crucial and critical there.  For me, editing usually ends up creating yet another draft (the official number for Triumvirate is 10, but I'm sure it is closer to 15,  Desperation is on 8).  So how do I do it?
For the most part I sit down with the TV on, some form of alcohol in reach (No I haven't done the IV yet, but hell, it just might be better), and work on my laptop.  I used to print the books out and edit them the old fashioned way, but not so much anymore.  Now it is all done on the computer with microsoft word, with the track changes on so that I can later go through and accept or delete the changes.  With the editing comes the filling in of the small details, as well as fleshing out plot points.  And often, for better or worse, I have added up to 20 000 words on an edit, while deleting away other parts.  Sometimes it comes down to WTF was I doing the day I wrote that, delete it and rewrite it.
Editing also catches grammar issues (not many of us are that good at this point these days, a failing of the schools, but I have improved way beyond what I originally wrote in the first draft of Triumvirate).  Spelling is another one, and as a Canadian we of course have a different way of spelling certain words, but when it comes down to the marketing aspect, well American spelling wins out. But for me, because my PHD supervisor was a Brit, in my drafts you will see a mix of Canadian, American and British spelling.
When I get things to a certain point, I use a piece of software for analyzing my writing.  It catches a lot of things and I pick and choose what I want to change and not change.  After going through this process (it can be before or after I send it to Trevor for his keen eye), I then do send it off to Trevor, who does his thing with it, and then it is back to me to look at the changes and then finally approve or reject his suggestions.  At this point, it now comes down to checking the headings, formats and everything.  And from here it goes into the final draft.
I know that this is only a quick summary, but this work can take up to easily 6 months of time or more just to get to the point where you can look at the final draft and say it is the final draft.
Also with editing, comes the decision on length and that is how I ended up chopping part of Triumvirate out and turning it into a novella to be released for Book II.  The draft, once it is in the file format for printing, well that is when you look at it and decide if the damned book is too big for the price it will cost in printing.
And recently, this while falling under the topic of editing, I was working on Book II and found out that I forgot to transfer another chapter over to the new file.  Some of my files are so old with so much coding having come and gone that I move stuff to wordpad, then back into word.  It was also while at ConBravo that I realized a trade paperback would sell better, hence the decision to take the novella, add in more of that book and rip the original manuscript down the middle.  Now I have an Octology (not proctology you people with your minds in the gutter).  I really need to get a full time editor to do most of this, I mean I do have an editor, but I still do a lot of this.
Overall, editing is very important and should not be rushed.  But alas, sometimes it is hard to not be impatient.

Kind of ironic perhaps given my stories??