I have written books, re-written them, shopped them around, and then re-written them some more.

Honestly, you're done re-writing when the book is published, if then.

Your one voice trying to be heard over a zillion other voices.

There's an exam and training to complete if you want to be a MD,. firefighter, collect garbage ....

If you want to write novel there are an infinite number of Books of Rules, and boy you sure better love telling stories, because this sure has nothing to to do with getting rich.

Revisions? I probably don't qualify to answer this because I have never published a book. I do write short articles, however.

One professor in college once asked me, "Why bother revising?" (Assuming grammar and spelling are all right.)

Another rule is to let the work sit a day or two before looking at it with editor's eyes. It's sounds as if you have done this because of the "dust" it collected.

Frankly, I'm sorry that you hate your book. I suppose that attitude is similar to what an actor feels after performing a theatrical play for the umpteenth time. You just get tired of it.

It would probably be good to have at least one other set of eyes read it for an opinion (not necessarily a critique).

I myself probably critique too much because my focus tends to be on grammar and mechanics. This kind of focus works better for nonfiction, rather than fiction and creative writing.

I wish you every success on your publishing process. --Marie, JAX FL

Well if you think it sucks you can't expect a reader to feel anything different.

You have nothing posted, so no one can give you an opinion on the writing. So let's look at you, or at least give you something to look at.

First: What makes you better suited to write the story than your neighbor? Do you have a better knowledge of fiction writing technique because of study or mentoring? Do you know the protagonist's profession better? Is your understanding of the nuance of POV deeper?

Do you understand the business side of writing for publication, and the filters that the publisher will apply when evaluating your work?

I'm not asking you to answer the questions here, but to ask yourself, to see if there are areas where you might better prepare yourself for making that judgement. You might browse a bit in the writing section of my blog. It's pretty basic and meant to give the flavor of the major issues. If what you see there prompts, 'I didn't know that," you might want to do a little digging into the craft, because the more you know about the process the more options you have when writing

jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/

Suzan.   The point at which you stop revising is when you're just moving the ornaments around on the mantelpiece because...you fixed the problems, you spell-checked at least four times, and...the reason you're still just moving a word here and a word there is you're afraid to send it out.

Send it out.  Once you've fixed design problems, structural problems, and "finish" problems (the typos, the continuity errors, etc.)  you're done.  Sure, read it aloud one more time, and fix anything that sticks out...but if you're at the point of hating it because you're sick of just moving the ornaments back and forth...get rid of it and start something new.  Maybe it'll sell; maybe it won't, but it will be out of your hair and you can go on to the next.  Detaching from a finished work (not perfect--just finished) and going on to the next...and then repeating that sequence again and again--will do more for your writing than ornament-arrangement on the first one.