I am EXHAUSTED! The past month has been a toughie. The family have all been ill with colds, sleep is… what is sleep? And in the midst of this comes the editor’s report for my new novel.

Fortunately I actually like editing, even when I’m this tired. Here’s how it works. I get a report from my editor, which contains feedback from the publisher’s reader’s panel, notes and suggestions. I also get the manuscript back with the editor’s comments and changes for me to work on and approve.

What sort of things do we work on? Well, it depends but it might be big picture stuff, such as changing a relationship, checking the overall timeline, or amending the way the story ends. And there’s usually lots of smaller things too, details such as is the weather description accurate for that time of year, or perhaps I missed a vital detail about where a character is in the scene. We’ll go through grammar and proofing too.

For Strictly on Ice, I wrote an entirely new ending, and for this new novel, I’m changing the nature of a relationship between two pivotal characters. I don’t mind at all. It feels like a very collaborative process, I never lose creative control over my story, and the edits are meant to make the story the absolute best it can be for the reader.

I find it really exciting to revisit the characters and to delve into their story once again.

I’m really committed to this new story and I can’t wait to share it with you. It’ll be worth the lack of sleep if you love the characters as much as I do!