The Power of a Punch List--by Reb MacRath
So you've finished the novel you've worked on for months or even years. You've done three drafts or five or ten. You've proofread it frontwards and backwards, then hired a good editor. And this is as good as it gets, you believe. Time to move on to the next one. But is the game really over? Might you still have a strong trick or two up your sleeve?
These thoughts were on my mind as I came to the finale of a novel I've worked on for nearly six years. In the long stretch I'd lost sight of certain details and made changes I hadn't expected. I'd also lost track of the time that had passed and couldn't be sure, in my mystery, that the clues had been placed to perfection.
When I chanced on the term punch list, a dandy tool for use when a novel appears to be finished. Setting the ms. aside next month, I'll compose a good long list of things my instinct tells me have to be added, deleted, or fixed. I'll tracked the placement of the clues and the timing of the Big Reveal. In an undated journal I'll log the weather and track the story's timeline.
Doing all this at the back end will be liberating. It will be the difference between thinking 'I've worked hard enough' and 'I know now I've done by best.
This is my report.
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