Writing is Revision

We all know this.
It doesn't make it easier.

We want to take that first draft and shine it up a bit and be finished, praying that somehow the amazing thing we had in our heads miraculously translated onto the page.

It doesn't work like that.

Polishing up a first draft would be the equivalent of scooping raw clay from the earth, applying glaze and throwing it in the kiln. I'm not an expert on pottery, but I'm pretty sure that would lead to a shiny glob. Not useful. Not too beautiful.
But, if we were to take that pile of raw earthen stuff, and start to shape it, it could be beautiful. That's the work of drafting and revising. It's taking things out, and stretching. It's molding and shaping. It's coming to look at that material and finding new properties in it.

And then undergoing the firing process--working out the impurities--let's call that critique. It's all necessary.
Maybe it's painful. Maybe the "firing" hurts--I've had a couple of occasions when the critique poked my buttons--or found buttons I didn't know I had. And even then, when I took a step back and looked honestly at the work, I could see the value in those observations. And I was able to make the work better.

And that's the point, right?
We have these characters in our heads, and we want to honor their stories in the very best way that we can. That's what I have to remind myself through the revision process. That it's getting better. That my characters are becoming real--to someone other than me. That their stories are absolutely worth every arduous revision.