When you've revised and tweaked your story until it's as good as you can make it, that's the time to banish the writer - yourself - and become the reader - that's you.

Let the story rest for a day or so, maybe even longer. Then find a time when you can begin and finish reading your story in one sitting. It's important to absorb the experience of your story with this read-through.

Only after a complete read-through will you then take up a pen and make notes as you ask yourself a few questions.

Does the title suit the story's tone and subject? Did it engage you, tease you into reading the story? It may be as the story evolved during the reading that you realized it needed a different title. There could be a key phrase or passage tucked inside the story just waiting to be discovered.

Did the story's opening lines compel you to continue? Or is your opening too cluttered, or delays the start of the story? Search for an opening that will launch the reader directly into the story. Then keep the action in forward motion. Take the reader somewhere interesting.

Stories, like life, are about human problems. Characters need to struggle toward those solutions -- and be changed in some why by their struggles. A satisfying story leaves the reader reminded of their own life's struggles and encouraged by the characters' victories.