I was elated with my cover, only to be brought down to earth or lower by my editor’s report.

Mr Leggatt was very friendly about it and very encouraging but thinks I still love my “darlings” too much. I know I do, but he wants to make my possible publisher happy, and I am not too bothered by that.

The ending has to change. The editor is correct as I lost sight of my MC, but removing some chapters that are not moving the plot forward but are jolly to read. I will never understand.

Maybe because when I read, I am more interested in the worldbuilding and the characters than what they get up to. One does not have to exclude the other. Before I started writing, I never thought of MC or extras.

One of my favourite series is the Game of Thrones books, which has a fantastic cast and needs all your attention and memory powers to keep track of them, but for fast readers, they are a delight as I have to work for my enjoyment.

So I will take the main advice, where I can see he was getting a bit fed up with me not doing it right, and try to change those bits. The rest will stay for my own delight.

He does make me smile at some of his comments, where I can practically see him thinking, “for heaven’s sake, woman!”

Like when I let my MC admire her surroundings: She’s just been kidnapped. Would she be admiring anything or trying to escape?

The report is of immense help, and I was deeply impressed by the detailed comment throughout my manuscript.

If the book becomes a tiny bit accepted by more than family and friends, for a large part, it will be down to Mr Leggatt from the Writing Agency in the UK.

I hope the next blog will have a link to my book somewhere in it. Fingers crossed.