Remember that rule

I said I had, the one about not showing my work to anyone except Dave before the book or story is completely ready for publication? Well, I'm about to break it, and I thought it might be useful to explain why.

I've finished the first draft of the original, brand-new, never-before-seen solo Lobo story--the Lobo Christmas story--for Jump Gate Twist. I'm running it by Dave for a quick check before I do a final polish and send the entire book to Publisher Toni, who will be especially glad to have it because it's due to the printer about, oh, now.

I'm also, though, going to show it to Bill for a reason I consider sufficiently important to break my SOP: He possesses in-depth domain knowledge that I need. I'm not going to say what that domain is, at least not yet, because I don't want to affect anyone's perception of the story, but if you remind me after the book appears, I'll explain then.

My more general form of this exception goes like this: If a person really knows a specific subject that affects your work, and if that person is willing to lend you their expertise, then I think it's perfectly fine both to ask questions of that person during the writing of the work and to show the relevant sections of the not-fully-published prose to that person.

Which is what I'm doing now.

In directly related news, I can tell you that I will be the one person in the world who will be happier than Publisher Toni to see this book head into production. I am tired of being behind schedule and look forward to a return to writing normalcy.