8. It Still Wasn't Perfect

The initial feedback I got was extremely insightful.

Susan, you took the time to go page by page and help me filter out all the tiny little grammatical and punctuation issues. I never would have even noticed any of these had your watching eye not caught them. I wish Word would have caught these, but I'm glad that you caught them instead. Thank you for your thoughts on the characters, story, and world!

Chad, thank you for helping me see a different perspective. I would have never thought to shift some of the chapters around the way I did without your insight. Thanks for slipping my book in with the four or five other books you had on your list!

Charles, I hope my journey can help your journey! You are creative, insightful, and have a passion for writing. Your experience helped me see a way forward that helped me work through aspects of world building that I would have been blind to without your own creation.

Matt, your wealth of literary knowledge helped me iron out soooo many issues in the story. Seriously, I took everything you said to heart and wove as many of your suggestions into the final version as I could. You really helped me flesh out a large chunk of what gave these characters and the world depth. I still reference your notes to this day to make sure I didn't miss anything. I hope you enjoy the final version!

Mom and Nathan, thank you for taking the time to read this version. Mom, I'm glad you found this edition just as exciting as the first. I'm thrilled you felt it ran smoother and I hope you enjoyed it. The next novel in the series is going to be even better! Nathan, I am so excited that you were excited. You felt for the characters and the story and gave me the confidence that I can continue on with my next steps. I hope everyone is as excited as you are about this world!

Jordyn, you were with me every step of the way. Helping me make sense of the magic system, letting me brainstorm for hours, and throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks. Thank you so much for all of your thoughts. I'm grateful for your patience and the hours upon hours of conversations that built this book to be what it is today.

Amazing feedback from so many different walks and perspectives. I knew exactly what I needed to do. The story was STILL to stiff, STILL missing pieces. I didn't just need to add more content, I needed restructure my entire writing style. It was time to shift away from what I knew and learn how to share my story in a way that brought it to life in the eye of the reader.

It needed more. More content. More dynamic angles. More worldbuilding. More believability. It wasn't perfect - and it will never be perfect. I know that I'll always be able to find something wrong with it or something that I can improve. But all I can do is my best.

So let's give them my best. Take the time, sit down, and strap in. It was time for an overhaul.