Since I have a severe case of revisions on the brain, I'm going to talk revisions.
Most writers can pound out the first draft of a novel in a few weeks to a year. That range sounds large, but the real separation occurs during the revision stage.
The futzers and dawdlers (I'm one) can draw out revisions for several years. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (she says justifying her bad habit).
There are several approaches to revisions, and I will describe the one I like best. Don't try to make all the changes at once. Instead change one aspect of the story with each pass.
For example:
spiff up the quirks of a single character
tighten dialog
weed out passive voice
readjust one element of plot
add in a repeating joke
I know several authors who write 20 - 50 drafts that way. (Don't panic. You're first draft is nearly perfect, so it will only take you three drafts.)
Personal example:
I decided to look at the "bad" words in My Invented Life to see if they were needed and effective. The novel is set during the rehearsal of a Shakespeare play, and that gave me the idea to use Elizabethan curses in places where I'd used boring old b**** and a****** before. That was fun.
Aside:
You can visit a cool Elizabethan curse generator at http://trevorstone.org/curse/
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