Next steps: What do I do with that novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo? #NowWhat

It’s been a little over a month since NaNoWriMo ended and we all parted ways for the holidays. Now that you’ve had the time to recover from your November writing hangover, you’re probably wondering…

What do I do now with that novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo?

It’s a big topic but I’m going to try to give you at least an overview. Let’s go!

1. If you haven’t already, you finish your novel. I don’t care how much of a mess you think it is, you’ve got to get all the way to The End before you can move forward.
2. Once you’ve written all the way to the end of the story you let it sit. Don’t touch it for at least a week though I personally recommend at least a month if you can afford the time.
3. Read the entire book all the way through. No making changes or fixing anything, just read it to get a sense of the big picture.
4. Determine your publication goals, if any. This one is personal so I can’t help you with it. Maybe you only wrote your book for you and don’t want to do anything with it and that’s fine. But if you are planning on trying to publish your novel, you’ll need to do the steps below before you can published it either traditionally or on your own. DO NOT try to publish or submit your book anywhere without doing some editing first. Trust me on this one.
5. After letting it sit, you’ll want to make it as good as you possibly can on your own. This goes way be typos and spelling errors and may mean rewriting, reworking and, yes, cutting huge chunks of the book. (If you’ve never done any kind of editing or revision before, this post from last year gives you a pretty good overview on how to get started and easy steps to get your through it.)
6. Once you’ve gotten it as good as you can on your own, it’s time to get some outside perspectives. Give your novel to your critique group or a few trusted friends and family to get some outside feedback on it.
7. When you get back your reader comments, you’re probably going to end up repeating steps 2 and 3. Sit on those comments for a while, especially the negative ones, and then, once you can look at them objectively, go back and fine tune the book again using the reader feedback that makes sense to you and your project.
8. When your book is really and truly done, you’ll know. And only then should you think about submission, publication and beyond.

Want to really make sure you actually complete all these steps? Set yourself deadlines alone the way!

Any questions or tips you’d like to add?