No fixing it later.

I reserve the right to make changes to the very end, but there comes a time when I have to stop thinking I can fix it later.  Each change I make has to be good enough before I move on to the next change.  It has to be able to pass what my publisher calls "the clean edit" test.

If this book was published, would I be proud of it?  Could I stand behind the writing?

The closer I am to a final copy with my first draft, the more likely that book is to be published.  So my Vampire Trilogy were published first because they were most-of-the-way-there from the start.  Led to the Slaughter required fleshing out, but I didn't really mess with the story that much.

It isn't that the unfinished books aren't as good, but it just makes more sense to finish what I can when I can.

Anyway, I will sometimes write scenes that I know will have to be fixed later.  But for the sake of momentum and continuity, and because, well, it's a rule of mine, I keep going until I finish the book.

Often, I'll forget a detail, a name or a location or a description, but rather than go back and look for it, I'll just keep going.

Fix it later.

I'm now at the point where there is no fixing it later.  Each change I make has to stand.  It has to be good enough for the final book.

No fixing it later.