My favorite comic growing up giving writers some good advice.

I think one of the hardest things I face when writing is editing myself down. I am so certain that every word I set down in my original draft is absolute and irreplaceable, but any good editor or publisher will tell you the same thing: EDIT EDIT EDIT. They don't want thousand page books anymore, unless you're George RR Martin, of course. 

Also, does anyone remember making half of this stuff up in College? I must have written thirty papers on the subliminal messages in Beowulf. Why does anyone even read that anymore?