According to all the advice online (yes, all of it), I’m doing this wrong. Author after author says to focus on getting the story out, then step away, then edit.
Apparently I’m not a good candidate for writing a how-to.
While producing my first draft, I spent a significant amount of time editing, returning to previous scenes and modifying them to tighten up the story.
Bad lad.
And now, after having finished the first draft, I’m immediately going through the sub-plots and doing my first edit. Truth be told, I’m going in reverse order of familiarity, which is a little like taking a break first. But the bigger need (for me) is doing some polishing before I set it aside. Before I merge the sub-plots together I need the work to be higher quality. It’s not an option. If I don’t do this, my first merged edit will devolve into fixing poor writing instead of tackling plot holes.
There you have it. I’m a rule breaker.
Maybe I will set it aside before the second edit, just so the writing gods don’t smite me.