I’m dancing around the room going, Yay, and Woohoo. I’ve finally written myself to Rede’s and Anne’s happily ever after.

Today is a holiday Monday in New Zealand. When I woke up and started to write, the good guys and the bad guys were all converging on the one spot. It took me 8,000 words and nine hours, but the villains are defeated, the proposal has been tendered (properly this time) and accepted, and all the loose ends I remembered have been tied off.

Now I’m going to help my granddaughter design a built-in for her wardrobe and read Elizabeth Hoyt’s Darling Beast, which I’ve been saving as a reward.

Next job is the first edit. I’ve been an editor for most of my adult life, and I’ve long thought that I’m a better editor than I am a writer. But I’ve never before edited a novel, let alone my very own novel.

I’ve some resources to guide me through that, and I thought I’d share them for anyone else who is at the same stage.

Here’s Autumn Birt on five ways to edit (yes, folks, five actual different edits for different purposes and different things).

And here’s the process Holly Lisle follows (lots of similarities, you’ll note.)

Chuck Wendig offers 25 steps, which he says he sometimes follows and sometimes not.

Jessica Bell gives a few simple tips for tightening opening sentences and dialogue.

Finally, Mike Nappa says you write your book 4 times. And goes on to tell you want you do each time.

Tomorrow, I’ll decide which of those, or what selection of those, I’ll try.