Thread by @philippa_east

Having read my #EditLetter, now I #AmEditing 🤩
A new thread…
🧵
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https://twitter.com/philippa_east/status/1630927539437707272

First up, while reading through my lovely editor’s letter, I have been making notes on *her* notes as I go.
This week, I also wrote out my own broad-scale to-do list, to summarise for myself the main changes I need to make.
Again, some bits are still a bit fuzzy in my head…
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…But I feel clear enough at this stage to dive into the MS itself.

STEP ONE: SAVE AS NEW WORD DOC.

(Heaven help those of you who edit your original manuscripts 😱😱😱)

ps For the record, “Draft 2” really means draft about 5 🤣

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Now I can go in big and brutal, deleting whole sections (MY POOR DARLINGS!!!), moving whole chapters, etc.
I’m also highlighting in blue sections I’ll need to revisit & rewrite properly.
For now, it’s moving the big bits of furniture and leaving blue signposts for future-me 🤣
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I’ve worked on the MS for two days so far (about 4 hours total 🫠).

I’m about 100/369 pages in, but like I say, this is just chopping and changing big stuff, and I still have LOADS of those blue sections to properly re-write.

My deadline is 3rd April (with some wiggle room).
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I’m at work at the psychology practice all day tomorrow, so won’t get any writing / editing done then.
But then I’m on leave for two weeks, so hopefully will be able to make plenty of #AmEditing progress then.
Tune back in this weekend when I’ll be back at it!
6/

So! It’s now Tuesday, and I’ve been editing for another three days straight.
On Saturday, I continued with my bulldozing, knocking out / moving whole sections & making more blue notes for myself.
I managed to get up to the half-way point in my novel at which point I thought…
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…I would now (Sunday onwards) go back to the beginning and do those re-writes for the blue bits I’ve highlighted.
This is much slower, more painstaking work. I’m literally rewriting whole sections, which can take AGES.
A particularly tricky part of this for me is…
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…is having to focus on line by line detail while also keeping the big-picture arcs of the novel in mind.
Unlike for (say) a painter, I can’t take a step back & see the whole thing in one go.
I know I’m going to have to read the WHOLE DAMN NOVEL through again at some point 😖
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It’s now Tuesday (morning), and I’ve made it though 55 pages of those rewrites (of about 340). I’m wondering whether I’ll need an extension to my deadline though I’m hoping other sections will be quicker… it’s hard to judge.
There are also still bits of the (plot) rewrite…
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…that I haven’t figured out yet. Hopefully it’ll get clearer as I go — and if not, I’ll contact my editor for a quick brainstorm.
Okay!
That’s it for now. Wish me luck for the next haul!
11/

Another week on, another barnload of darlings slaughtered!
I’ve continued to work through the rewrites of those blue sections and I’m now up to about 170 pages.
🤯
I’ve also chopped up and blue-highlighted a bunch of future sections that also need rewriting.
12/

At this stage, it’s still feeling pretty tedious, because in some places it’s like first-drafting again (writing brand-new scenes to fill the holes I’ve created).
It’s like emptying an entire wardrobe into big piles everywhere.
All looks a state.
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I know eventually the new version will all come together and be shiny and brilliant, but this stage is ROUGH.
I’ve also had a few Jenga-tower moments, when it felt like I’d just unraveled my entire book.
14/

I had to take a day off it yesterday because I was getting knackered and ground down.
It’s always scary to take time out when there’s a deadline, but today (Tuesday) I have come back to it fresher.
(FWIW I have no idea how authors do this on top of full-time work 😬😬😬)
15/

Remember those bits I was stuck on before? Well, this afternoon I’ve a phone call with my editor.
Top tip: When you have someone to help you, USE THEM! Generally saves time & heartache.
Hopefully, I’ll get clearer & feel more able to push on.
(Might ask for an extension too!)
16/

👆Actual footage of an author on the phone to her editor.

More soon! Happy writing and happy editing to you all
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So! I’ve now had a chat with my brilliant editor, which was super-helpful. Just the process of talking to her (as someone who knows the book so well) helped me unfudge a key bit of my storyline, which then had a positive domino effect, slotting other bits into place - yay!
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I cracked on over the next few days, rewriting more of those scenes to bring things in line with the new vision.
At the moment, I’m focusing on one POV at a time (I have 4 in total!!) so that I can stay in the arc and flow of that one storyline and character…
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…Later, I’ll obviously need to go back and figure out how to order the different POV chapters so that it all works together… eek.
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As I’m working on this stuff, my brain continues to germinate other ideas and ways of tweaking things. In fact, I had a massage yesterday (which was lovely) during which my brain was on 🔥🔥🔥 creating new scenes!
(Thanks, but there’s a time and a place, Brain! 😡)
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I reckon by the end of this structural edit, I’ll have junked and re-written ~30-40,000 words in total 😅 — including the whole scenes I’ve deleted and recreated, plus all the sentence-level tweaks.
Sounds drastic, but…
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…IMO, it’s STILL easier to edit a draft than try and put instant perfection onto the blank page.

Especially since I feel I’m moving beyond what I term the “tunnelling through mud” stage (“I’m changing all this but have no idea where I am headed”)…
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…to feeling it’s starting to “work” 🤩🤩🤩
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Also! I’ve agreed an extension with my editor — moving this first deadline from 3rd April to 14th, huzzah!
This makes sense for us both, because it will give me the necessary time to get *these* core edits right, meaning we can🤞save time on the next edit rounds🤗
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Anyway, more #AmEditing updates soon, and in the meantime, happy reading, happy writing and happy editing, Comrades!

ps Find my books and follow me here:
26/ amazon.co.uk/Philippa-East/…

Another week on, another god-knows how many more hours of editing done!
I’ve continued to go through and re-write things scene by scene.
As usual, there have been plenty of days when I didn’t want to do it, and I had to make myself get to the desk…
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Things that help me get to it:
Tea
Setting a time limit (eg an hour, two hours, after which I am allowed to stop for the day regardless)
Having a reward at the end of the writing session (currently new episodes of #NextInFashion)
My concentration music

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Really, much of writing and editing is just blue-collar graft: bum in chair, do the work.
We’re still artists!
Just like how making a fabulous dress still involves the dull graft of cutting, stitching, hemming etc etc.
Grinding it out.
That’s the secret 😆
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I totally agree with the statement:

Writing is awful
Not writing is awful
The only part that’s okay is having just written
🤣🤣

In other words, finding it a total slog doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
30/

So! By now (Monday) I have gone right through the manuscript doing the big rewrites of scene after scene for my #StructuralEdit.
To be honest, there are some rewritten scenes (especially the ones at the very end) that I’ve still left half-done for now, because…
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… I’m just too close in to see exactly how it’s all weaving together. By that, I don’t mean I’m too “attached” to it. I mean, I’ve been focusing on one scene at a time.
Now…
I have to go right back to the start and read the whole thing through AGAIN and…
Guess what?
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Yes! Do more editing! 🤣🤣🤣
As mentioned before, my new deadline is now 14th April. I’m pretty sure that will give me enough time to do another full pass through the MS, and then possibly go through it all again in audio.
In the meantime…
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…My publishers @HQstories are busy behind the scenes developing the title, cover design & advertising tag-lines! (I can’t wait to share these with you in due course!)
In the meantime, wish me luck for the next stage(s) and best best of luck with your own writing & editing ♥️
34/

Another week on. End is in sight!
I went back to the start & read the whole MS through on my iPad, editing on my laptop as I went.
I got about half done the first day (Wed) then another quarter on Thursday. Then I was at the psychology practice & on Sat I slept all day, oops!
35/

On Sunday, I managed to read through the final quarter — the most ropey bit so far. This required yet more scenes to be completely rewritten.
Yesterday, I was also grappling with the order all my different chapters should go in…
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I have four (4!!!) POVs in this book — one of which is epistolary🤯 — so it’s tricky to know how to order them to create the right overall “story arc”.
I’ve done my best, but TBH this is exactly the sort of thing I’ll need my editor’s outside eye on.
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As I’ve worked on the MS this week, I’ve been thinking about how — as writers with deadlines, working on these huge projects — we somehow have to figure out a schedule to both work at a sustainable pace and get everything done in time.
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It doesn’t help that some scenes can take twenty minutes to fix, and others can take two hours — or two days!
I’m always recalculating my work rate and how I’ll fit everything in by the deadline.
Speaking of which…
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Did I mention my (new) deadline is THIS FRIDAY?
So what remains to be done?
Today I redrafted the remaining climax & resolution scenes.
Tomorrow, I’ll read over & edit these.
On Thursday, I’ll polish this last quarter, and weave in a few other small edits that are on my list.
40/

I’m at the psychology practice again on Friday, so… I’ll probably send the manuscript to my editor at close-of-play on Thursday and BE DONE WITH IT.
(for now)
Whoop!
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I was thinking I would listen back to the whole thing as an audio file, but to be honest, that would probably require another whole week.
And given that I know I will have at least another two rounds of edits after this, it probably wouldn’t be a good use of my time.
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At this stage, do I think the book is any good?
Right now, yes I do.
I feel it’s the story I want to tell and that it’s basically “working”. I feel the scene-by-scene writing is strong, and I know my editor is pleased (from what she’s read before).
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Further edits may trigger a crisis of confidence (again), but for now, I’m feeling good*.

*On the other hand, I’ve learned that my perspective can be egregiously wrong, so who knows! 🤣🤣🤣
(God bless editors.)
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I am ready to get the book off my desk though (I’m getting a bit weary of working on the same story week after week).
Once it’s with my editor and I have a gap before her next round of feedback, I’ll go back to working on my other project…
45/

…Finishing the kids’ book I’m writing for my niece Juno! The deadline to have that finished, edited, proof read and printed is her 9th birthday on 19th April 🤣

I’ll also be working up my ideas for #Book5…
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So! Wish me luck for the final stage (of this round) of edits!
Here’s to all you writing and editing comrades.
💪
#WritingCommunity
Together, we’ll get there.
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I
DID
IT!!!!!!!
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Tune back in in a few weeks’ time when we’ll have — yes, you guessed it — MORE EDITS!
In the meantime, I need a stiff drink and a lie down.
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Aaaaaaand we’re back for ROUND TWO of #AmEditing!

https://twitter.com/philippa_east/status/1659904304638054401

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