I cut 30 pages from my manuscript last night. Ctrl-X. Just like that. Of course I saved them in a file I named CUT, which totals about a hundred pages. After finishing the last novel, my CUT file was twice as long as the finished manuscript.

It's difficult to cut out scenes that I spent a lot of time revising and polishing, especially since I produce about 2 pages per day, on average. But the stuff I cut just didn't belong in the story anymore. The plot has taken some new directions since (okay, I'll admit it) the Maass workshop--and an energetic brainstorming sesh with my critique partners. My brother likes to call it "hijacking". We've all benefited from it.

Writing tip:
Don't write about what you know. Write about what you want to know.