Why editing is … and isn’t … like icing a cake

It was 12:05am and I collapsed into bed, feeling on a high after a particularly productive editing session.

“I like editing,” I told my husband.

“Why?” he asked (he was probably thinking why does she always start conversations like this after midnight?)

“Editing is like icing a cake. When you write a novel, it’s like baking a cake. Its a little rough around the edges and has a few holes in it. Then you put the icing on and the cake looks all glossy and nice.”

“But, you’re not really fixing  the cake. You are just covering over all the holes. It is still dodgy underneath.”

“Oh … maybe editing isn’t like icing a cake then …”