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[bluezebracat]

Ahaha. Well, it sounds like the simpler problem here might be aversion to self-cutting/editing. I usually copy-paste the g*dforsaken, pedantic chunk out and put it in a 'working document' which means I didn't *really* delete it and can go back whenever I want to relish my glorious multisyllabic invented words whenever I want.  Really, I never rescue anything from the 'working document' but it makes drastic self-cutting waaaaay easier. Slash and burn, baby.

[seniorscholar]

I usually copy-paste the g*dforsaken, pedantic chunk out and put it in a 'working document' which means I didn't *really* delete it and can go back whenever I want to relish my glorious multisyllabic invented words whenever I want.

Me too. And after the book has been published, I go back and read the "working document," realize I'll never, never, ever, want that junk again, and delete it (except sometimes for a couple of citations, which then go into another document which lingers on my computer, unread, and continues to be moved to each new computer since the disc space gets bigger every time).

[runwithscissors]

I go for a strategy of putting the dreck in a footnote, then cleanse and burn the footnotes later (saves larking about with different files and forgetting where bits should go back in later).

[racerboy]

An update...After e-mailing back and forth with the commissioning editor, I took a few months and trimmed the manuscript from ca. 250,000 words down to under 100k, wrote the framing essays that the reviewers had suggested, tightened things up, left acres of print on the cutting room floor (and had some of that accepted as a journal article).  Sent the revised manuscript back in, generally positive comments came back, and I'm returning a signed contract this week.  The result is, of course, a far better read than the original gargantuan work of over-scholared arcana, and the press involved and I both think we can crack some new markets.

So, many thanks for all the support.  It was helpful to hear what, in the back of my mind, I knew had to be done, and I went back to this thread many times when it seemed I could cut or edit no more.  You will all, anonymously, get a massive shout out in the acknowledgements!

[tee_bee]

Cool! And turning the "scrap" into an article is a bonus! Reduce, reuse, recycle! Congratulations!