First Draft
This time, I did it completely differently, writing the book, start to finish, all 24 chapters. Each one was polished for clarity. (or who knows after how many drafts? I stopped counting after 15 ) Reading the whole book, I found certain scenes which jumped out at me, so I fixed them. Of course, I shared this book with friends and got their opinions.

In the second reading, I mapped out the plot's cause and effect in each chapter, character motivation, and the major conflicts in the story. Also, I polished characters’ descriptions, scene action, setting and metaphor. When I was satisfied with these things, then I printed a whole new version of the book.

Second Draft
Once the big things were done, then I focused on the little things: editing the overuse of linking words, and phrases. Did I tell more than show? I got more detailed, tried to use a variety of linking words and remove weak verbs.

Okay , now I had a new draft which I began reading for each character’s dialogue. Did the characters have consistent voices? Voice tags?  Then, I looked at varying the sentence structure especially the beginnings of paragraphs. Also, what about the use of foreign languages? Did I get feedback from native speakers in those languages?

Third Draft
When I didn't know what to fix next, I got a story editor to read the book. With her feedback, I brainstormed and added scenes which helped to shape characters and the overall plot structure. There were no bad ideas at this stage. I used my favorites to flesh out the story. A final group of readers took a crack at the story. Reading for pleasure, they gave me notes on any awkward sentences and their reactions to my changes.

Fourth/Final Draft
Now, in the last two weeks, I have been re-reading my book again and finding a few minor nits, plus I wanted to add a short scene, fix my Czech and then get my line editor to examine it. She will be the fresh set of eyes to fix anything else I might have missed. Then I will let the book go and submit it to publishers.

As I page through my notebook, I smile. There are other stories waiting to be written.