Today’s post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh.  It’s a way for insecure writers like myself give each other advice and encouragement.  Click here to see a full list of participating blogs.

Today’s post is also part of Indie Life, a blog hop for independent authors hosted by the Indelibles.  Click here to see a list of participating blogs.

These two blog hops don’t normally overlap like this, but Insecure Writer’s Support Group was pushed back a week by New Year’s Day.

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I’m in the middle of revising my short story series so it can be re-released on Kindle, and in the process I’m making a lot of changes.  In some cases, pretty major changes.  My beta readers tell me these changes are a huge improvement, but I’m starting to worry because I don’t want to become George Lucas.

The original Star Wars films are among the greatest Sci-Fi movies of all time.  Then in the 1990’s, Lucas went back and “improved” them by adding a bunch of CGI robots and monsters.  Then with the DVD release, he added some more stuff, and he did it again when the movies came out on Blu-ray.  All these so-called improvements supposedly bring the movies closer to Lucas’s original artistic vision.

Of course we can all fall into this trap, revising our work over and over, adding new material where we think it’s needed, and tinkering with small details that don’t really matter to the story.  The only difference between George Lucas and the rest of us is that he does this with all his fans watching and cringing, many of us wondering what was wrong with the original movies in the first place.

I started writing my Tomorrow News Network series over two years ago, and I’ve grown a lot as a writer since then.  I use a much broader vocabulary, I have a stronger grasp on the science behind my fiction, and I’ve learned the difference between showing and telling.  I believe the changes I’m making to my stories are necessary… but then again, so did George Lucas.  I can only hope I’m making genuine improvements and not just adding extra CGI monsters.

So my question today is at what point do you say, “Enough”?  At what point do you know you’re done making meaningful revisions and your work is ready for publication?