Stick a fork in it already!

So, I have a confession to make. I’m neurotic—sort of. I’m a perfectionist. I hate to make mistakes. Because of that, and the fact that the voices in my head never seem to shut up, I’m a compulsive reviser/editor of my manuscripts. I can pick at a manuscript forever and never be totally happy with it.

Even in Personal Demons and Original Sin, which are a done deal, there are some things I wish I could go back and change. I'll think of some witty line that would have fit perfectly and I'll kick myself. What I find is that the characters develop and flesh out this way for me, sort of one line at a time.


Because of that, I'm the kind of person who drives my lovely critique partner and truly fabulous agent nuts. I'll send them something, then like two days later, I'll send them a frantic, "Wait! I changed something!" email with a revised manuscript. If it takes my agent a week to get to something, she'll probably get at least four of those emails. She never complains (out loud) but I'm sure I'm her most annoying client.


Even when I was querying agents, I did this a few times, even though they warn you not to. The few I did it to were very gracious, and one even represents me now, so I guess it wasn't too big of a black mark =)


So, how do you decide something is good enough? When do you stick a fork in it and call it done?