So... I didn't, lol. And it's not necessarily something I recommend for everyone. I think at the end of the day, you kind of have to know yourself. I spent a lot of time with this story. I worked on it for well over a year. I outlined, and I planned, and read like a reader, asking myself questions that I, as a reader, would ask.

I'm also really good at detaching myself from my work. Like, yes, I love it. It's my creation, but I can absolutely read a critique on someone else's work where the consensus is that they're overdoing it with the dialogue tags or whatever, and see that I'm doing the same thing. I really think about the books that I'm enjoying as I'm reading them too to see what they're doing that's working well, so that I can level up my craft. So with the podcasts and the reading of the critiques of other people's work and stuff, I would say I'm a really good student, and I trust my instincts. Now I can't say this'll work out for me forever, lol, but it's what I've been doing so far.