How Do You Know...?

A question brought up at a group awhile back prompted me to blog about a subject you don't hear discussed often.

How do you know when your work is ready to submit for publication?

This is a great question, because oftentimes we feel something is ready to send off...after all, we've revised and edited it numerous times...and yet, it might not be our best effort after all.

I feel I know my work is ready when I read it (for the fiftieth time already!) and I am caught within the story's spell. It no longer feels like I am reading my own work that I've struggled with in the attempt make every essential word perfect, every metaphor fresh and clever, every mention of dialog captivating. I am in time and place with the character. I feel as if...well...as if I'm reading someone else's novel. An author I admire, even.

There are paragraphs where this is not the case--places where sentences don't seamlessly mesh, awkward and sharp as crevices between stacked rocks along a pier. A reader doesn't want to go on, can't go on, because there doesn't seem to be a smooth place to step.

I may spend hours on a few sentences, rearranging them, chiseling each phrase until it says exactly what I want in the most astute manner. But the payoff is big. The next time I read through, I'm no longer stopped by sentences that drop off into a thrashing sea. I've made a stone bridge. It's strong, it's durable, and it's traversable.

Perhaps you depend on the help of a writer's group, or have a trusted and keen-eyed reader. I have that as well. But in the end, only you can feel satisfied enough with your work. Only you can decide when it's time to take that gigantic step and submit your work.

Put away the piece you're writing for a few weeks. Pull it out with fresh eyes, pretend you're a reader. Do you become so focused on the story everything else falls away? Are you so engrossed that you suddenly realize it's three in the morning and you have to get up for work in a few hours? If so, you may be ready to take that leap.

How do you know when your work is ready? When you feel you can't go any further to improve upon what you have written.