I spent some time after my last post really puzzling out what reasonable timelines might be for revisiting and editing (in order to avoid the pitfall of getting stuck on a single story and not moving on, even when it’s not working), and have come up with a ridiculous flowchart which I will post over my desk and will hopefully remind me what I’m trying to do:
The
“I’ve Completed A Story What Do I Do Now?!”
Flowchart
I can totally relate to this. Thankfully I had very good feedback with the collection of short stories I put out two years back, which has helped to buoy me up enough to complete the recent novel.
2026 Update—Ah, the delicious fantasy of constant progress! What I’ve found over the past few years is that it’s much better for me to edit something relatively soon after I finish it, and then just launch it ASAP—otherwise it’ll probably languish untouched for years. Lately, most of my sold stories are ones I write and edit and launch—do I sometimes send out stories that aren’t my favorite? I do! Do they sell? Sometimes! I’ve come to realize that my own perception of my work sometimes has more to do with whether I’m bored of working on something more than whether it’s bad or good. Some stories I HATED when I first drafted them ended up (with editing) becoming some of my favorites, and others I sat on hoping to “work out their kinks” ended up getting sold after minor tweaks and just kicking them out the door almost in their original form. It’s a wild, wild world out there in Submissionland. All I can advise is trust your gut and know yourself: are you typically nicer to your critique partners? Maybe you’re too tough on yourself, then. Do you get bored after three passes? Cram as much into those three as you can and then cut them loose! The biggest regrets I have are a clutch of stories that I never sent out and that I’ve now utterly outgrown and have no interest in their subjects. So finish ‘em while they’re hot if you can!