And there's nothing more disappointing and downright humbling than finally getting to re-read that chapter to realize it's not really that great. In fact, there's a typo. Oh, look, another typo. And spell check is... spell checking a lot. Where was I going with that sentence? Why did I think this paragraph was so great? This chapter is abysmal! Oh my lanta! I'm never going to finish this book. I hate myself!
Sigh.
I try not to do a lot of re-writing while I'm pounding out a first draft, but I always go back and re-read the last chapter I wrote at least once. And it's always a humbling experience. Haha!
It's an amazing little world we authors live in—an exciting, stimulating, soul-crushing world.
Going back and re-reading what you wrote while writing your first draft is still useful, though 1/2 of writers scream "don't do that." Dean Koontz does that. His explanation is that the more time you spend with it, the more you figure it all out. In my experience, this is totally true. I recently banged out 70k words of a 1st draft (with big gaping sections I'll write later), and when I was done I was left with this huge sense of unease. So I'm going back now doing all my rewrites, nice and slow, and I'm happier. Eh, writing is learning to write, right? :)
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