I still write the way I learned in kindergarten. By hand. Using a number two pencil. Listening inside my head to the words as I read them. Erasing and replacing sentences. Crossing out paragraphs. Crumpling up pages. Throwing out whole chapters. For me, writing, revising, and editing, are all part-and-parcel. If I do one, I’m doing the other.

I really love editing my manuscripts—as much as I enjoy writing them! Part of that enjoyment is knowing that I can make good (or crappy) writing great through editing (and re-editing) my work. There’s a feeling of such satisfaction when the words sound and feel right, when you know that they’re going to have the impact you want them to have.

Not everyone who’s written something has their eye on getting that piece of writing published. But if publication is one of your goals, here are three ways you can increase your story’s chances for publishing success via editing.

A story is a strange beast when written. A reader may hurry or amble through at his own pace, rushing to reach the end or savoring every moment. A careless moment of daydream may cause him to skip a sentence while a sudden noise may cause her to put it down, mid-word, to resume later.

You're revising your book. What this says to me is that you aren't in this gig just to pin the “I wrote a novel” button to your parka. You are serious about writing and serious about this book—enough so that you're willing to take on the arduous endeavor of turning a first draft into something that sounds like a novel. If you have ever said “I want to be a writer someday,” then I have good news for you. You are a writer. It's official.

You’re writing a story. It could be a short story, a personal essay, a memoir, a screen play. In your case, it’s a novel. The words are flooding the page. The dialogue crackles, a metaphor is working perfectly, the setting satiates the senses. You like the heroine and hate the villain. Then the words slow to a dribble. You have no idea where you’re going with an idea that seemed so promising. Perhaps you are lacking a story question.

Editing. Most writers either love it or hate it. I mostly fall into the “love” category. Why? Well, because it means I’ve got a completed first draft, which is where you do most of the heavy lifting. It’s not that editing is a simple task – it can often be just as complex and challenging and hair-pulling as writing first draft material.

The single biggest obstacle that I face when editing is starting. I have been known to do many things to avoid editing. Some things, like grocery shopping, paying bills, and making sure the animals are fed are legitimate excuses for why I haven’t gotten going. Mopping my kitchen floor, grading papers, or cleaning out the cat box are still mostly acceptable reasons. But at some point my avoidance becomes comical.

I have a reputation for being fairly prolific, but I have to tell you here and now that I’m not one of those writers who can bang out a coherent rough draft in a couple of weeks. For me, writing a first draft is torture. I have to drag the words out one at a time, conscious all the while that much of what I’m writing is sheer and utter crap. In fact, the only comfort to me during the first draft phase is the knowledge that this is only a first draft and that the miracle of editing is coming -- and that soon my lame and halting prose will be up and running.

I've probably said this in every social network I am in—'I love editing' or maybe if I am feeling viscous ‘I love slaying words’. However a few years ago before I learned to locate the Zen of editing I was both horrified and disgusted by it. The mere idea of sitting down to take a red pen, virtual or otherwise to my writing set me in a cold sweat. I would find ten thousand other things to do around the house rather than do that.