The best advice. Writing your ‘dirty’ first draft is merely the first stage of getting a book out. It’s all about getting to know your story and what it’s all about.

Once the story is down on the page, it’s time to let it sit for a while, get some objectivity and distance before diving back in.

Then, and only then, is it time to ‘get it right’, make sure the story is all there, that there’s nothing missing, layering in anything missing, and editing out extraneous details and unnecessary words.

None of this can be done before you get the story out of your head and written.