I believe that this information is so important, that I am purposely making this article incredibly short—offering the bare minimum, so that people are more inclined to dedicate a mere sixty seconds to reading this.
This should be every writer's definition of "finished:" When a writer is able to read through his or her entire work without changing a SINGLE THING—from something as complex as removing or adding an entire page, to something as simple as adding a comma or correcting the spelling of a word.
It is ONLY then that the short story is ready for publication, or the author is ready to advance on to write his or her next chapter.
