Writer's Odyssey by Poppy Gee

How do you know when your book is complete and ready to be sent to the publisher for its final journey to the bookstore shelf? 

This is such a good question, and I have two answers. 1. You need to give yourself permission to decide your novel is finished. 2. Don't ever send it off before its ready.

I once met a woman who had been working on her art history PhD for eleven years. A PhD usually takes four years full time. The woman kept changing bits, editing and tweaking. She was not a happy person - she'd spent all her twenties working on this one project, and not doing anything else. No job. Nothing. She seemed haunted, dissatisfied, anxious and worried. Her doctorial thesis haunted her friends and family, too, who privately told me that the unfinished work was a terrible cloud that hung over every interaction with her. This woman talked about her thesis all the time, not in a positive way, but like it was a ball and chain she dragged around with her. 

Not many projects are worth this time and misery. Unless you're Michelangelo who, spent four years and up to eighteen hours a day standing on scaffold to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Vatican City. The key question to ask is, are you enjoying your work? If so, keep tinkering. Otherwise, turn it in. 

I wrote my first published novel while I was doing a Creative Writing Masters in Philosphy at University of Queensland. My supervisor, award winning literary fiction writer Venero Armanno, gave me excellent advice. I'd finished my manuscript, we had workshopped it in the classes and critique groups. I won a coveted spot to show the first twenty pages to a publisher via a local writers festival. Afterward, I reported back to my supervisor.

"The editor gave me encouraging feedback, including some tips to make changes," I told Venero. "But she didn't offer me a book deal. Should I make the changes before I start submitting it?"

"No," he said, vehemently. "If you make changes based on what every different person tells you, you'll drive yourself mad. Wait until someone loves it so much they want to publish it, then make the changes they suggest."

You, and only you, need to decide when it's finished. It's your project, you must trust your gut instinct when you feel you've put everything into it. However, there are some things you must consider before you send it to a publisher. 1. Ask some appropriate people to read it and give feedback. 2. Make sure you've done the appropriate research or consultation, particularly if you're writing outside your lived experience. 3. Proof read it. 

The 1966 surf documentary Endless Summer by Bruce Brown follows two professional surfers as they travel the globe, chasing the perfect wave. They surf the symmetrical right-hand point breaks in Cape St. Francis, South Africa, the reef breaks in Tahita, the legendary barrels of Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, and remote coasts in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria where they teach the locals to surf. The point of their odyssey is the joy and the pleasure. There is no end point. They'll never find the perfect wave, and it doesn't matter. It's the journey, not the destination, that matters.