I've written a book...now what?

I finished my book about a month ago.  It was the tenth revision/rewrite that took me around three and a half years to reach.  I completed the life goal of writing a book, a real novel with over 75,000 words.  It's no longer an idea or a dream.  It's my reality: I've written a book.  Now what?

That was the question I asked myself each day for weeks after this great milestone.  Now that I had a completed project, what was I supposed to do with it?  I knew I wanted to publish it and that I wanted to get it to the public as soon as possible.  But I also knew it wasn't ready to throw on Amazon.  It needed to be polished, worked over, worked on.  I knew there were grammatical errors and syntax problems that needed to be resolved.  I wanted to be sure I tied up all the plot points, that my character development was at its finest, that my world-building was at its peak.  With all the things I knew, there was only one solution--I needed an editor.

If writing a book was a daunting task, finding the right editor seemed like hiking Everest.  I sat in a dazed state for another few weeks, immobilized by the idea of scouring all of the professional editing world for that one editor who would make my work the strongest it could be.  Somehow, through my catatonic stupor, the thought came to me that my goal wasn't complete.  I wanted to become an author and not just an author who wrote books, but an author who shared my books with the world.  I was only halfway there.

I had to keep going.  No one ever hiked Everest without preparation and determination.  I had to start somewhere.  That somewhere was with research.  There are so many to choose from: copy editors, developmental editors, all of the above...and the price range is all over the charts.  Sifting through the editors that didn't meet my needs, narrowing down my list to just a select few I believe will help me take my writing to the level I want it to be at.  It's time to prepare a query to send to my first choice and I've made a list of backup editors.  I'm prepared to make my investment to follow through with my goal and become the writer, the author I've dreamed of becoming.

It all started with a step.  Everest doesn't seem so daunting anymore...