Howdy,
I just reached a massive milestone in the Arduous Edit. I’m now at 100% completion for stages II, III, & IV! The manuscript is starting to shine, but there’s still some polish to apply. The next milestone is finishing stage V edits, which is printing off hard copies chapter by chapter and line editing them. Right now, I’ve done this to 18 of 45 chapters putting me at exactly 40% complete.
I've picked up on a few writing foibles as I’ve gone over the manuscript again and again, like a hamster running on its wheel. Overused phrases/words/etc. I’m starting to address these by changing or removing them as I find them, and by coming up with a list of alternatives. The magic eight ball says I’ll be using the find function in Pages in the near future.
All in all, the editorial process is not as arduous as I feared. In fact, it’s rather fun and rewarding, especially since I can tell the manuscript is improving by leaps and bounds.