Step 1: Write (read)
Step 2: Save it for later
Here’s what I did once I finished writing the epilogue.
I did
a quick spell-check in Word to catch some of the most obvious mistakes and then
I didn’t read it again. The story was finished and I didn’t want to ruin that
feeling of achievement. I had finished a book and it felt great. Starting to
dissect my own writing in search for ways to improve the story would’ve killed
my euphoria, so I didn’t do such a thing.
I still read and enjoyed the comments I received on my story, but I
didn’t really do anything with the story itself.
After a few weeks, I realized
that the comments I received actually made me want to read my own story. I
wanted to know what the story was like when you read it as a ‘reader’ instead
of the ‘writer’ but this turned out to be more difficult than expected. To me,
it was surprisingly hard to let myself get sucked into the story without
noticing small mistakes here and there, to want to make small changes to the
way I worded things. I attempted this several times, but in the end I knew it
wasn’t going to work. So, until I came up with a solution, I would save my
story for later and get back to it when it wasn’t as fresh in my mind anymore. 
