Editing Eating Blackbirds

Hello! Firstly apologies for the delays in posting recently - but I do have a genuine excuse...

I have finally had the Editor's notes for Eating Blackbirds which is out in July. Before Christmas I spoke to the Editor and she gave me her initial thoughts about the story. One of the characters had to be younger, another a bit more adventurous and I really couldn't get away with chopping that one's arm off: he really didn't deserve that...

So I have been thinking about it since then, trying to work out how I could do those things, but knowing that there was no point in starting until I got the full notes, as I would probably have to change lots of other things too. She needed to read it again and then think it over, so I was to wait until I got the full list.

And last weekend I got them... 108 points!

Some are things like, "didn't she have long hair in the first chapter and now she has short curls," and these are easy to sort. Others make me a little sadder - ie "that's not funny" when I really thought it was, and some are more far-reaching - making him a little younger makes her need to be that age, so her daughter can't be doing that and then she needs to think back to her youth and have done THAT. And so it goes on - one little change means it has to be followed through the rest of the book.

So far, I have added about 20,000 words, have gone blind and had to get my first pair of glasses, have worn out my laptop (until I realised that there were at least 400 photos on it that was grinding it to a standstill) and given myself tea-poisoning.

I have another three weeks before it needs to be finished, so until then, it is every evening and every spare moment. Luckily I can let the housework go, as I am quite used to that and so is everyone else. I now just need to work out how I can to my adventure's climax without chopping that poor bloke's arm off...