5. A new review deadline

After being in Austria since New Years Eve 2019, Joti and I are finally travelling back to Australia! We are both looking forward to seeing friends and family but the trip also provides a nice hard deadline for me to get the final elements of The World That Was finished.

I am planning to share the book with an additional five test readers (two of which are in Australia) and my grandmothers have both been keen to read it as well. With these final edits made, I think the book will finally be ready for them.

The to do list includes:

1. Finish consolidating test readers feedback into a chapter-by-chapter summary

2. Rework Chapter 3 to occur over a longer period

3. Merge Chapters 8 and 10

4. Write a new chapter to be the new Chapter 13, moving the existing chapter to later in the book

5. Rework Chapter 36

6. Rework Chapter 37

7. Rework Chapter 38

8. Rewrite the Epilogue

9. Address the individual comments from test readers throughout the book

10. Print and bind seven copies of the book

There is a fair bit to do but a clear cut-off date will be a strong motivator. My hope is that I can travel to Australia with several copies of the books in my carry on luggage, leaving me free to use the hotel quarantine time to finalise letters to literary agents and begin fleshing out the ideas for my next book. But which to start with…a prequel, a sequel or an entirely different genre altogether…?