When confronted with a revision letter, what to do is to boil down the comments into a more manageable checklist so you can evaluate and apply them. Otherwise, you try to take in the whole thing at once and become overwhelmed.
I'm noticing as I do this today, that some of the flags are related to things I thought I was supposed to be doing per the last letter and misinterpreted (dumb Cyn).
Some are related to aspects of the story I thought were well delineated, but clearly are confusing to anyone who is not me (also dumb Cyn).
And some of the flags are related to things I was doing in previous but now defunct versions of the mythology (even dumber Cyn).
This is what I mean by Junk D.N.A. It's dialogue, narration, and analysis (or exposition) that's no longer relevant after revision that you don't catch because you're too close to the manuscript.
What happens with so many readings is that you get too familiar with certain passages and your eye skims over them, even when they no longer apply, especially when the manuscript is hot. Hot, meaning something you've been working on steadily.
Right now, after five-and-a-half-months stagnant, my manuscript is ice cold and they all stand out. It's embarrassing.
I'm embarassed.
