Reasons to Enjoy Editing (Or to at Least Not Hate It)

Hello, all! I am currently in the midst of editing Song of the Selkies so it'll be ready for release next month. I confess that this is not my favorite stage of the writing process — which is part of the reason why I try to write very clean first drafts, so I don't have to spend more time than necessary here. Still, every stage of storycraft has its merits, so in an effort to keep my spirits up (especially as I'm ending a rather stressful week even outside of writing stuff), I've decided to find five reasons why I can enjoy editing, even if I don't love it.

Reasons to Enjoy Editing

1. I get to rediscover all the good bits and go "Hey! This is great! And I wrote that!" I don't think it's arrogant to say that I do genuinely like what I write much of the time. (If I didn't like it more than I disliked it, I'd probably stop writing.) Even in first-draft form, I'm often proud of particular scenes or bits of description or dialogue or narration, and I enjoy rereading these bits almost as much as I enjoy reading other peoples' writing. Editing gives me an excuse to do that, and of course it's an opportunity to take the good bits and make them better (difficult as that might be at times).
2. I can fix the parts I don't like without worrying about losing my momentum. I'm a very linear writer — while some writers can craft scenes and then go back and add in all the bits necessary to connect those scenes together, I start at the beginning and work straight through until I reach the end, no jumping around. (There are exceptions when I realize that I need to change details in a past scene to make the rest of the book work, but that's rare.) That means that, on days when the words are fighting me or in scenes that just won't work right, I typically have to push through anyway to get to the point where I know what I'm doing again. I rarely like what I've written during these periods, but editing means I can take (almost) all the time I need to turn these sections into something I'm happy with, without worrying about momentum.
3. I can find the places where I accidentally foreshadowed things and do it better on purpose. The other thing about writing linearly, specifically about writing linearly as an author who's more plantser than planner, is that I don't know all the details of the ending when I'm writing the early chapters of a book. And, depending on how long that book took me, by the time I reach the climax, I might not consciously remember those early chapters very well. Editing is an opportunity to go back and find the places where I accidentally foreshadowed something or created some parallel — quite possibly without knowing that I was doing so — and then purposefully polish those elements to bring out their full potential. It's also a chance to find the sections where I set up the potential for foreshadowing and then taking advantage of it.
4. I get to laugh at the cluelessness of the characters in their start-of-book state. I recognize that this sounds terrible, but it's not! I swear! But when I go back to the start of a novel and revisit characters at the start of their storylines and arcs, and I remember how much they don't know . . . it's funny, ok? That's especially true with the main character of Song of the Selkies — unlike Alys in Through a Shattered Glass or the Dennels in my Bastian Dennel series, Ceana is both highly idealistic and (though no fault of her own) lacking some very significant knowledge about her world, country, and neighbors. (That's not a spoiler; it's in the book blurb.) As a result, returning to the start of the book prompts a lot of "Oh you sweet summer child, you have a big storm coming" from me. It's genuinely delightful.
5. I get to read beta readers' comments! This is the absolute best part of the editing process: the fact that I get to see readers' reactions to specific parts of the story in context. I get to see which parts they especially liked, which bits made them laugh or cry or scream. I get to laugh as they snark at characters or make meme references. I get to "watch" them make predictions and piece together what's really going on. And, yes, I also get constructive feedback, but the fact that this is the one opportunity I have to see what it's like to read my stories for the first time, to come along on the reader's journey with them . . . that's something really special.

Do you love editing? Hate it? Feel meh about it? In any case, what do you especially like about it? Or, at least, what makes it bearable for you? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!