I have just about done my first read through of Gorge Creek, before getting down to serious editing. It's not as bad as I had thought. Some bits need cutting, but mostly it's sounding OK. Better than I expected. That's the advantage of leaving it alone for a while - you get over that "I've had more than enough of this story" stage. 
    In the meantime, I've had an exam for the extramural English paper I'm doing this year, and have read through the feed back I got from the Wild Rose Press editor, Susan Napier. In hindsight, it was spot on and very helpful. As a result, I am now in the middle of writing full character backgrounds for my hero and heroine. They are helpful, I have had to concede. I am finding out heaps about my characters that I didn't know, and that came across in the story, where I have glossed over stuff, or just left it. Mostly, I am giving them a proper family background, and trying to understand better who they are, why they do things, and what would be their normal reaction to things happening to them.
     I've also only now discovered why I find the non-verbal bits between dialogue so difficult. I didn't know the characters well enough to know what their actions would be when they were not talking. Sounds basic. But it's taken me years to learn this.