Irony

The funny thing about writing is, I spend all this time accumulating words, and being proud of myself for that; then I spend all this time cutting words, and being proud of myself for that. It really doesn't strike me as sane behavior.

Put another way, it's like additive and then subtractive sculpture. First you build the block, particle by particle; then you chip the sculpture from the block.

Of course, I wouldn't have this problem if I could just write a book of manageable size in the first place.