You're very welcome! Glad it was useful. 🙂

The trick, in my experience, is to learn to step back and out of ourselves, and see our work the way a reader would. If this were part of someone else's book, would we read it? It's a really helpful technique.

I think all fantasy authors go through that phase. I know I did. 🙂

In my experience, the techniques of writing don't really change from genre to genre; a good story is a good story, period. Things that work for romance stories will also work for westerns, or science fiction. Sure, knowledge of genre tropes is useful, but ultimately they're secondary to the rules of good storytelling.

You did a pretty good job conjuring the scene with your description in your comment. Keep writing, and you'll keep getting better.

You have the opposite approach from me: my drafts start short, like skeletons, and then get the meat on them in subsequent drafts. But there's no right or wrong way, just what works for you, and all that counts is what ends up on the page. 🙂

Thanks for the kind words, Carol, and I'm really glad you found it useful.

Thanks, Susan! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂