If you know me in the real world, you will be aware that I love to make life more difficult for myself. As a result, this post may not come as news.
This week I received the copy edits for The Forger of Auschwitz (due for publication in May 2027, more info here). We need to consider two things:
The first is that I wrote this story initially during the heady summer of 2020. It’s been through multiple iterations since then, and that was before I was even picked up by a publisher. As ever, a massive thank you to James at Watson, Little for the seven versions he read. Actually, a shout out to everyone at Watson, Little for their continued support.
The second is that this is not a reflection on the edits or the editor(s). They are noble and needed changes. The notes, references and call-outs here are things that I hadn’t and should have addressed. I’m the idiot in the title of this blog post. It’s just incredibly humbling to have improvements pointed out in a story that you think you know so well. As I said, they’re needed and I’m grateful of the help.
What I am learning is that there will never come a point where this thing is done and where I won’t read through it and find something that I would then look to change. As I sit with it now, it’s over 111,000 words. Some of those are edits I’m yet to work through but it’s a lot of writing to smooth out. When I have addressed everything that has been raised by my brilliant copy editor, I will read the whole thing out loud to cinch in where it doesn’t have the right mouth feel. What I am learning is that the references I have put in there to keep me entertained, or to make my friends laugh, probably need to be cut for this to be a viable product for public consumption.
This is a brilliant lesson for me. All of it. Every step of the way and every conversation that I have will result in this book being brought to life. It’s crafting me and making me into a better writing, as every story I’ve written up to this point has done.
I am so grateful.
This is literally the dream.
|I am living the dream I have had since I first sat down on my home computer and typed on a keyboard.
It’s what I’ve always wanted.
It feels big and exciting.
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