Running in Place

On the one hand, I'm making progress in my current novel. I'm going over the chapters I've currently written, and frontloading much more of the worldbuilding, exposition, and other details I kept saving for later. This should make the first third of the story less cryptic for readers.

My wordcount doesn't reflect my efforts. Despite my changes big and small, adding new passages, rearranging others, my manuscript hasn't gotten any longer. Things should improve as I add more chapters, but for now, I'm frustrated.

It me.