You can't tickle yourself

How can I tell if my writing is any good?  It's hard, because the plot, the words, the characters don't have any element of surprise for me.

A joke makes us laugh because we didn't expect the punchline.  Mysteries surprise us because we didn't know who's responsible.

When you write them, you know what's going to happen.  When you revise them twelve times, every word starts to seem rote and trite.

Sometimes you revise it just to make it fresh, when what you had was perfectly fine.

Ever gone to a concert and your favorite singer is doing weird things to their famous songs, when you thought they were fine as they were?  Who wants a version of "Dirty Deeds" that's a ballad?  But these rockers are singing the same songs for thirty years.  It must feel like chewing cardboard to them.

Maybe my current novel-in-progress really isn't any good, or maybe I've just read it too many times and have to move on to the next chapter.