Backtracking, dead ends, and detours

I've mentioned before that I don't use word meters.  That's because, given the way I write, they don't measure my progress very well.  I may pour out 3000 words in a sitting, and then spend six weeks revising those words.  I may write 1000 words one day and delete half of them, or all of them, the next.

I frequently write scenes that I delete the next day.  I realize the book is taking a wrong turn, so I bring it back on track.  But the day I write the eventually-deleted scene is not a wasted ...