Time up! Onwards to editing, I go. (I am ridiculously excited about this.)

How long you let your book rest - sort of like bread dough between kneadings - is entirely up to you, but I think it should be a minimum of six weeks. During this time your manuscript will be safely shut away in a desk drawer, ageing and (one hopes) mellowing. Your thoughts will turn to it frequently, and you'll likely be tempted a dozen times or more to take it out, if only to re-read some passages. . . Resist temptation. If you don't, you'll very likely decide you didn't do as well on that passage as you thought...