Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

That might be a little excessive.

When you are all finished with your manuscript, and you’ve run it through your critique partners, there is a big temptation to tinker with it. To have one more once-over, do some fine-tuning, and see about how much more to tweak it.

Maybe don’t do that.

Don’t fine tune your book into oblivion eternity. At some point, it’s not better, it’s just different.

What I do is send it out to beta readers.

(Read about writing drunk, editing sober, and breaking rules HERE)

On Poggibonsi: an Italian misadventure, I sent the “finished” MS out to 20 people to read and give me the general feedback. I wanted them to read it like a regular reader would. (Yes, there were some typos. Sue me.)

I must polish! I must obtain perfection!

The finishing of the manuscript is a very difficult time for…