Growing As A Writer - When Is It Good Enough?

Official Group Photo of the Authors at EAFOL

Yesterday I mentioned I'm on my 27th draft of August Rock. Before I clarify, let me say that I also began book eight this November and August Rock was book two. Just wanted you to know that I didn't spend all my time polishing one book. Instead, I write a new one then go back and take all that I learnt from writing that one and apply it to August Rock or until recently The Cornish House or whatever the current book is.

Also a bit like when you are learning the piano...or at least how i remember it. You learn a piece of music in parts...left hand then right or vice versa. Well for me - with each rewrite I focused on a different aspect because I still had so little experience that I couldn't do an edit for pace, look at spelling and at continuity at the same time. Each phase of editing was new to me so they had to be kept apart. I still can't do all the editing required in one pass...

So if I were set my process out it would look like this...

a. write dirty first draft
b. leave it alone and edit previous book
c. maybe write synopsis for story now that I know my character and what will happen thanks to step a. I also look at this point to see if I have any themes - I usually do but I don't know them or see until the first draft is done
d. look a the twists and turns of the story...are there places where i can turn up the heat and make things worse for my heroine? This draft is about upping the conflict and also beginning to look at pace
e. leave it alone and rework another story which is at a different stage
f. at this point I look at the words...in the past this might have been a couple of drafts, but now seems to be one. I look at verbs - am i always using the same one? Are they strong enough or are they fiddly? I look at word choice - again am I always using the same ones - I get certain words into my head and use them to death...
g. rework another script
h. now I look at sentencse and paragraphs... do they vary? are they in the right order? (see my comment yesterday about page 2 of The Hunger Games - boots before trousers) are they necessary??? This phase hits on my key weakness - repetition.
i. work on another script
j. look at the story at a whole again and break it into chapters - make sure that each chapter grabs you at beginning and end. Finally does the promise of chapter one get fulfilled in the last chapter...

Long process isn't it and now with adding an agent and an editor it becomes longer...
k. agents sees things I've missed and I work on her suggestions
l. editor can see the book as whole in a way I don't think I'll ever be able to...so I will rework again
m. copy editing...who knew my characters sat up so straight so often!
n. proof reading...
o. letting go....

It is true a book is never 'done' until it's published...

Looking at my 'process' above, it sure seems like a lot of work and it is. But I can hope that as I grow as a writer somethings will become instinct, but i know it will always be hard work because I always need to be pushing myself to be a better writer. And by that I mean in the technical/words department and in the story stakes...I was never going to be a concert pianist - i didn't have the passion, skill or most importantly the hunger. However I want to be the  writing equivalent of of that and that means all this 'practice' draft after draft will help me reach my goal - being read.

So now I'm working on August Rock with new eyes...and it's exciting and scary. I want it to be better, need it to be better...

How many drafts do you do? And how much do you try an achieve in a draft?