Can't see the wood for the trees

A tutor at University gave me one very important piece of advice regarding writing: CUT AND PASTE (literally).

Because I have been writing my book for such a long time (over a year), I often do not see parts of my story that need editing; When a third party reads my work they often point out things I have not noticed, like the repetition of subject matter.

Yesterday, I sat down with two pages of my opening chapter and before I cut the paragraphs (literally), I colour coded the themes:

Red = reservations I had about my travel
Yellow = benefits of travel
Blue = inspiring others

As a result, I clearly noticed that I repeated all three themes in two or three places throughout the chapter. So I edited the work using the following method:

1) Cut each coloured paragraph
2) Placed the pieces beside each other spread out on the floor
3) Cut and paste the pieces (on the computer)

Voila, now I had a chapter that flowed.

Shame we can't do this rearranging with our PERSONAL LIFE!