How Much is Enough

I've been revising the last few weeks.  This is work and not fun.  I find it hard.  I've had some good advice and that is driving much of this revision.  The book was reasonably coherent before, but I think it is more coherent now.  How much revision is enough?  When should I stop?

My idea was to have a good review from someone who clearly knows more about what make a good book than I do, then I would update.  After this major update I would do one more tour and it would be over.  But I think and think and think and it seems that aftere every tour, the book could still be bettter.  So why stop?

The problem is that this is my first book.  The more you write the better you get.  Also I get advice, I read books on the subject, I consider pod casts from authors and teachers.  When you are filling the barrel with knowledge, you do get better (and quickly), but yesterday's work soon seems to be dull and amateurish.  

But eventually I have to stop, so I ask when is it enough?

I set an arbitrary deadline for finishing the book as before Christmas 2025.  Not because I think that at that time it will be as good as I can make it, but because I have other writing projects that I have put on hold and life is short.

So will the book be as good as I can make it?  Not likely, but it is a lot better today than it was two months ago.  The Tick Tock man controls me (as always).

The Only Joy is the Joy of Duty

After an excellent review of my up coming novel, Memories of Yuggoth, that Lee Freitag graciously provided, I have been very busy trying to improve the book.  His comments have inspired some new ideas and twists and I am hopefull my revised version will align with his expectations.  The book itself, after working on it for more than two years, is a much bigger job than I ever thought it would be.  But I assure you, it is a labor of love and I am anxious to get working on my next one.  Even though it is only of medium length a major review and update the the text is a significant task.  I am working very hard to ensure that is will be ready before Christman (dare I say 2025).

I'm not sure how others work, but I have reread, revised and corrected the entire book at least eight times (and it might still suck).  I consider this the final revision.  Once it is done I plan to do one more reading and it will good to go (or not).

I'm also starting to play around with some cover art (and I am in no way an artist). I am using an AI image generator and a bit of hacking with an image editor to try and get something that is not too awful.  Here is my latest try (but the final version might be totally different).  Keep tuned.

So, as the red lectroids say, The only joy is the joy of duty. Work... work... work... Keep your nose to the grindstone.  So I will keep working... until next time.