Today’s Question: When do you know your story is ready?

When my editor rips it out of my cold dead hands! Seriously, us creative types have a hard time stepping away from the shiny object *ooh, squirrel!*

But what happens when you don’t have an editor? Before I had any publishing contracts, how did I know my story was ready? . . . After I’d had three critique partners take a look at it, then fixed my manuscript  according to their advice. I then shot for two beta readers to read over my novel and give me their feedback. It’s ideal if the betas are prolific readers in the genre you write, and I was fortunate to have that for my 18 Things YA trilogy.

I don’t like spending more than a year on a project, but I know other writers take as much as several years *coughs George R.R. Martin*

In the end, you have to go with your gut . . . or wait until your editor rips it out of your cold dead hands 🙂

This has been a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, the brainchild of Head Ninja, Alex J. Cavanaugh. Feel free to join us the first Wednesday of every month! Purpose: To share and encourage.