I think I'm done with "Game Faces." I even have a blurb and a cover! Yet I keep going back and reading passages and making minor tweaks. I don't know that I can actually stop doing it until I send it off to the publisher. My problem is, how I feel about any particular passage can vary by day and my mood. I might like a sentence one day, change it the next day, and then decide it should go back the way it was (although actual total reversions like that are really rare.)
One new preparation step I'm going to add before sending my latest "child" into the world is to make the Rich Text Format copy and actually review it for formatting. Most of the corrections I come across in the galleys is lost formatting--missing italics, paragraph indents, section breaks, centering. I haven't gone back to the other novels to look at the RTF copy to see if the formatting is getting lost there or later via the program my editor uses to prepare it. I really would like to give her the cleanest file I can, as it makes things much easier for both of us.
Next up, I think I've decided to polish an older manuscript for what I hope is Book #5. While I have ideas for sequels to both "Changeling" and "Game Faces," they are not fully developed enough to start work on them. The older manuscript I'm focusing on is a mystery that touches on psychic phenomena, pagan religions, and a tiny nod to reincarnation. I know where its problem spots are. It needs more conflict. I guess perhaps it's my style to have my main character(s) face both a mystery as well as relationship/self-awareness issues. Two conflicts at the same time in a way. The personal side makes a story more interesting, at least to me, and hopefully to readers as well.
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