Series of tasks incorporating a proof workflow to create one timeline that can be viewed and adjusted

Hello community!

Can you tell me if anyone has successfully integrated a proofing workflow within a sequence of tasks which produces one long timeline that could be reported on.
For example:
AnyTask 1
AnyTask 2
Send proof (task3)
approver 1 (task4)
approver 2 (task5)
approver 3 (task6)
AnyTask 7
AnyTask 8
I would like to report on the overall timeline of the 8 tasks, but feel that the proofing is currently a seperate entity to the rest of my timeline?
Complete newbie - would appreciate ANY help!