I'm currently nearly done writing a novella-length piece that has taken a year and a half out of me. It has gone through three rounds of editing, with each new draft deserving the adjective new as much as the draft before it. I now find myself at that part of the writing process where I know I need to give it the entire weekend to make the final rush of edits for continuity of voice, clarity of thought, and overall completeness.
I want to do it over this weekend because I want to - I feel the primal urge, the need that got me into writing in the first place, and I have to - I find it impossible to edit for uniformity of voice over short periods of time separated by long gaps, I feel one Philip K Dick-esque sitting would be best.
Besides, I'm young, and my voice evolves with every new piece of art that I encounter. This is great, since what I'm writing is a bildungsroman, but is problematic when you want to have control over your artistic voice and maintain unifromity.
My question to the writers out there is this. (This might apply to creative people of any sort, really. Coders, film-makers, musicians, I don't know.) Does what I have said so far make sense? What techniques do you use to complete the final lap and do justice to all the effort you've put in so far? If you do agree with me that the last mile needs to be done in one epic sitting, how do you prepare yourself for it? Do you play music or do you prefer silence? Do you travel someplace new and write there for a change, or at home at your desk? Do you prefer cafes or study rooms?
Please share your techniques and ideas with me. Answers to either these questions or the meaning of life will be much appreciated. Thanks.
edit: Really caught up with work these past few days, so I haven't got the time to update the post with my experiments with editing. This is what I did. As expected, the thought of rewarding myself with run got the better of me and I pre-warded myself with it on Friday night. This made it impossible for me to really work till Sunday morning. On Sunday morning, I sat down at my neighbourhood cafe, bot myself a caramel macchiato, put on my earphones and started. My friend had a lot of work pending, (he works in a start-up, erratic hours) so he sat across the table from me, got himself a cup of coffee and put on his earphones. I sat there for twelve hours straight, editing, reworking, rewording. And it worked. I'm satisfied and am nearly done. I now know this works for me if I want it enough. Thanks. You will be the first ones to hear about the novel when I do publish it.