The most powerful tool in your arsenal

"What?  But, Jen, the goal is to finish the book not delete it!"

Yep, that's the first goal.  Finish it.  The second is to make it good.  Hence the backspace button.

"But I'm at 70,000 words and all I need is to spellcheck!"

Maybe you are the next Proust, but if you have even the nagging suspicion your book needs revision you have to let go of your word count and make friends with the backspace button.  Fact is, there are whole sections of your novel that are fluff, characters that fade into the background, and dialogue that drags.  But you already know this.  What you have to do, and yes it will hurt a little, is start deleting.  Great writers don't cling to every word they write as art.  Great writers recognize bad writing and delete it or rewrite it.  You wrote a book.  You can do it again.

Just remember:  You can rewrite it.  You have the technological.  Better than it was before...better...stronger..."