In connection with the $60,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, students currently in grades 9 through 12 are invited to submit to a new contest for young writers. The deadline to submit is March 31, 2014. More information at writerstrust.com/students

In connection with the $60,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, students currently in grades 9 through 12 are invited to submit to a new contest for young writers. The deadline to submit is March 31, 2014. More information at writerstrust.com/students

So, you’ve finished a book. First of all CONGRATULATIONS. Many people tell me they want to write a book. Far fewer tell me they’ve got to the end!

The temptation is to send the book off immediately. Now it’s finished, surely someone will want to read it? What are editors for if not to fix all those pesky mistakes? Except an editor’s job is to help you push the book further than you could possibly do on your own. Not fix mistakes you can already see.

So, put the book aside for a little while. Not too long, maybe two weeks, maybe a month. Then read it through, make notes, lots and lots of notes. Listen to that voice which says THIS BIT ISN’T WORKING. After you’ve made notes, start your first rewrite.

I’ve just sent my novel back to my editor. It’s due to come out in August this year and I’ve been editing it ALL YEAR. Yep, that’s right, the rewrites have taken a huge amount of work and a lot of rethinking. The book I initially wrote has been transformed into something stronger, more original, more like the book I wanted to write in the first place.

Now I’ve finished editing, what happens next? Well, I have to accept I haven’t actually finished editing. There will be more edits, line edits, copy edits, galleys. Each stage of the process make the novel better for a reader. Because if you’re going to spend your time reading my books, the very least I can do is spend as much of my time as possible on the work. I’d better make these books as good as they can be, right?

Then, after all those edits, I might turn my attention to the quiet voice in the back of my head that has another story for me to start writing. It’s hard work actually finishing a novel, edits and all, but it’s addictive!