There is no done. Only close enough

A reader on the forum asked how we know when we're "done" with a book and ready to submit?

Like a funny cat story, there is no such thing as "done". I sent in my manuscript when I thought I had begun to do more harm than good. When you trim the fat, you don't want to cut too deep, right? And I think I was right to get the book off my desk when I did. Because what I have found is that the material I have come to loathe the most in a story, the gunk that makes me cringe, will be the stuff the editor likes best. It works the other way, too. Sometimes I think the sentence I am most proud of is the first one I should delete. Especially if I wrote it at four in the morning. It goes on and on. I'll be getting ARC's soon and I've already asked my editor if I can make some minor changes.

Comments

[sara z.]

Hah! Yes, it's all true.

[Rebecca]

Hey Thatcher,

I just discovered your blog! And don't worry, I made substantial changes after my ARCS were printed. And then I made significant changes on the first set of galleys, and non-negligible changes on the second set of galleys . . . I'm not sure I get to see the next set.

Rebecca S.
2k7-er