The highest compliment my writing has ever received came from a fellow author, regarding Robin Hood: Wolf’s Head. She said something to the effect that she was definitely going to keep it around and make sure to re-read it whenever she needed a dose of awesome Robin Hood adventure.

Though I haven’t heard this about any of my other books (yet), that’s what I’m always trying to do as an author: put enough into each book that readers will want to come back again to see what they might have missed, or just enjoy reliving the story.

When and if I’m able to succeed, it goes a long way toward resolving what I’ll call the Cook’s Complaint. You know—I spent three hours cooking this amazing meal, and then everybody finishes it in fifteen minutes. With a book, you may spend months writing and the reader devours it in a couple of days. But they can always come back and repeat the same banquet, and if you’re lucky enough to have any leftovers, you can make a sequel out of them that can also be enjoyed again and again.

Continuing to run with the culinary analogy, authors also have to eat their own cooking. I often read through my books five or more times when in the editing and polishing phase. So it’s vital that you, yourself, like your story enough to re-read it. If not, I doubt any reader ever will.