Did I just change 80% of my first draft?

Revising my first draft. Look at the rejects.

I've been revising the first draft of a short story. It had been going well, until yesterday. That was when I came to the last page, which was in rough shape. I must have run out of steam on the first draft because almost every single piece of it, every word choice, every detail, I did not like. I only found a handful of things I liked enough to keep. Usually it is the opposite. Usually it is not too much work.

This page was different.

I ended up splitting the work into three sections.

Three work sessions on this piece of ... a diamond in the rough

The first section I did while on the bus ride home from work. It's tricky to write while riding a bus. Luckily most of the hard lifting was mental.

The second section I did while falling asleep on the couch after a long, hot day. Managed to fix up one paragraph.

The last section I pounded out this morning at work. I wasn't busy and I felt like I just needed to finish it off, because if I didn't I knew I would procrastinate and drag this thing on for another few days.

I'm getting happy with the result. I'll let my brain do it's thing and think it over for a day or two, then we'll take another look at it.

It will still need a good polish, but at least it's done for now.