Writer's Fallout Shelter

I am really enjoying this forum. Reading here has made me think about the process of revising. I have written only one book...and although I've had it in manuscript form several times...it is not good enough yet. Although I have been writing as long as I can remember, I really did not plan to write a novel. All I wanted to do was capture in words a romance I had...which I thought I would forget each and every moment of if I did not write it down. That's where I started, but none of that is even in the book anymore. At first, I had no idea where the story was going, but somehow it all came together. Writing that first draft was one of the best experiences of my life. I would read back over what I had written the next day and have forgotten some of the details I wrote. What amazed me is some of those details tied in with later parts of the book. The story sort of wrote itself. I loved writing it. The first draft took me about eight months. Although the story was there, the writing style certainly wasn't. The editing and revising has not been as much fun. Is that the norm for most writers?

PS: Sorry to be so wordy. I am tired tonight.