Editing. The joy of exceeding expectations (and baking my first ever sourdough loaf)

Instructions to AI (not verbatim): woman with white pixie-cut hair, thick black glasses, black jumper sitting at a desk looking out the window at trees and hills while writing [I definitely did not request her right hand to be at the end of her left arm! Or to have a neck that long and thin and to be looking in a strange directions]

7. Wednesday 7 January 2026

Not only did I copy, format and print out the remaining 30 chapters ready to edit, I baked my first ever loaf of sourdough and it looks exactly how I’d hope (taste test not until breakfast tomorrow).

                I wrote notes (I feel a bit fraudulent calling this stage “editing” as I’m only really highlighting things rather than strictly editing) for another ten chapters. I’ve done the first 30 chapters, 20 remaining. I’m wildly optimistic I’ll do ten a day for the next two days, then spend the weekend celebrating a week of brilliance. Ish. To think, I did one chapter on the day I started and thought two a day would be a realistic goal.

                I had some waves of feeling almost overwhelmed by how much I need to do before I imagine feeling ready to send it out to agents. I find it easier to scrutinise and improve upon sentences and words rather than being able to sort out the whole. For example, my character Isfa becomes friends with a man she denies she fancies. There’s an exchange between them in one chapter where it’s apparent they’ve known each other at least a few weeks … I realised today they could only have known each other for five days and met twice at that point. I need to get them talking a few weeks earlier, but I like how they’re introduced and that can only be done at a later point. What or how much do I change/compromise to make it work?

This was today's work station (not at all like the AI picture!) with my unformatted Word printouts, mini notes on the purpose of each chapter and keyboards stacked up on my laptop stand (just to get them out the way so I could write on more of my desk)

                My previous book, Infinite Possibilities, covered nine months. For various reasons, I had to swap two key events from one month to another. I thought it would be fairly straightforward but it was a lot more complicated than I imagined, for example references made to something that hadn’t happened yet.

                However, while going through today’s ten chapters, I did also have a few moments where I realised I was looking forward to going through it all and making corrections. I really enjoy reading my own writing when it works, when everything seems correct; very satisfying. I’m a long way from that feeling, but there are the odd chunks I read at this stage where I feel pleased with how it reads. Ideally, over the next couple of months I’ll feel pleased with how it all reads, not just a few paragraphs. But I think maybe end of February is overambitious to have an agent-ready manuscript, though if I continue doing five times more than I expect per day, I'll be finished by the end of this month (not).