SPEAKER_00 0:48

What I always suggest is that first of all, do address the things that you can address. So if you get a comment or like even just an edited sentence that is throwing you off, you can skip it because we do everything in comments and track changes. It'll still be there and move on to the things that you can fix and then come back. Because sometimes you just need that extra little bit of space. You're obviously not going to accept all your line edits in a single day. It's going to be a few days to a week or two process to go through everything. So do the easy stuff first and come back to the more challenging stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo, and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. Whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started. In today's episode, we're diving into a topic that a lot of you have been asking about, and that is line editing. What it is, when you need it, and how to find the right editor to work with. And today I'm joined by Andrea and Michelle, the managing partners of Two Birds Author Services who have been editing fiction together since 2018. These two have worked with many writers from my own community, and I've seen firsthand how their feedback helps authors not only polish their current manuscript, but also grow as writers for future books. And so in this episode, Michelle and Andrea are breaking down exactly what line editing is and how it's different from developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading. We're also going to talk about how to know when your manuscript is actually ready for a line edit, as well as what to look for when you're searching for an editor, and what the process typically looks like from start to finish. We also talk about the most common sentence-level mistakes that Andrea and Michelle see in manuscripts, so things like clarity issues, weak word choices, and inconsistent rhythm, as well as how you can start addressing these in your own writing before you even hire an editor. So whether you're getting ready to hand off your manuscript or you're just curious about what happens at this stage of the process, this episode will give you the clarity and confidence you need. And so with all of that being said, let's dive right into my conversation with Andrea and Michelle from Two Birds Author Services.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Michelle and I have been editing fiction together since 2018. And we have found that we work really well together because we have some different specialties. And so we're able to help our clients with a large variety of different services. So hopefully the way our skills blend is able to provide a lot of value for the people that we help. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

And so you guys do that all the way from the developmental editing down to the copy editing and proofreading, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yes. Yeah. Okay. I do more of the high-level developmental edits stuff. We get a lot of clients who want manuscript evaluations, that kind of thing. And then we kind of tag team on line edits and proofreading and stuff like that. Andrea is really our line editing guru, but I can jump in there as well from time to time.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Yeah, well, that is what we're going to talk about today, specifically line editing, because as I've mentioned, that is not my area of expertise. And that is something you guys are very good at. It's where I send most of my students who need line editing help. So let's talk about like the most basic thing to kick us off. What is line editing and how do we know we're ready for that?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

So line editing really is after you've got your draft and it's in good shape in terms of like you know where the story's going, you have thought about the big picture elements, everything is hanging together, the polls are filled, and you know, characters are strong and everything, and there's a really solid story. There's a point at which it's important to go back and look at everything from the standpoint of do the sentences make sense? Is there a logical flow from one paragraph to the next? Are the word choices working to create the atmosphere and tone that you want? So line editing really is kind of a digging down into the nitty-gritty of how you're structuring the story on a sentence-to-sentence level. It comes after the big picture drafting and revision of plot elements and character elements, in part because you don't want to spend a whole lot of time looking at sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, if you're going to have to take out a chapter and completely replace it or more, you know. So you want to really wait until you've got things solidly enough that you can start looking at, you know, the elements of craft that make writing stand out on an individual level, you know, the authorial style, that kind of thing. Your style really comes out when you're taking time to look at those. How am I structuring my sentences? How am I connecting my paragraphs? What words am I choosing? Am I really creating the atmosphere I want here? Have I left anything out in terms of just those little word details that really help to create the picture that allows the story to be immersive? So that's kind of how we look at line editing in the whole big picture of where things fit.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Yeah. And I love that you said that because I find that two things. One is writers tend to jump right into that. And then, like you said, they end up cutting scenes, chapters, and they feel frustrated. Why did I spend so much time doing that before I was ready? And then the other thing I see is that writers kind of think they go from these big picture developmental edits to spelling and grammar, and they think that's what line editing is. And it's like, this is exactly why I wanted to have you on the podcast because line editing is so much more than that, obviously. And it's all the things you said, it's about making your story show up on the page and sentence level in the way that that's how we dream of our story showing up, and that's how it comes out through editing. So let's say we're a writer, we finished the big picture story edits, we've maybe had beta readers, we feel pretty confident that we're ready for this sentence level type of polish. How do we go about finding the right person to work with?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, that's a great question. We we love that because we really do believe that, you know, every editor and author deserve to have a really good relationship working together. And so, like anything else that you would hire for, you're looking for somebody who's a good fit for you, that they communicate clearly, that they understand the type of story you're writing. So you might start out by looking for some referrals from people that you know who've also been working with a line editor to see who people are enjoying working with. That's one reason why we love referral business, because we understand that there's a value in people telling other people, here's what this editor does and what here's what it's like to work with them. So ask those questions. You can look on websites as well once you have some names and just kind of see what type of work do they do, what genres do they work in, what does their portfolio look like? Can you see yourself and your book fitting somewhere? And that doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't reach out to them if their portfolio doesn't look exactly like yours. But you know, ask around, do your investigations, and then get a sample edit. We at Two Birds, we do a free sample edit. It's a short, you know, maybe a thousand words to 1,500, which is, you know, a few pages, but it really gives us a chance to see what the author's work is like, make sure that it's actually ready for line edits. And then it gives the author a chance to see, well, what kind of feedback do I get from Andrea and Michelle? How do they present things? You know, we do a mix of track-changing edits and also comments and things like that. And Andrea will get a little more into the nitty-gritty of what it's like working with us, but the sample edit is really to allow the author to see, hey, does this feel right to me? Because if you're working with us or any editor, that's what the entire experience is going to be like, and your entire book is going to be like that. So if you're liking what you see on those four to five pages of edits, that's a good sign. If it doesn't fit, that's okay too. It's just acknowledging that doesn't fit and there's another editor out there for you.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Yeah. So I have two questions on that. So one, when you're doing the sample edit, do you guys ever tell a writer, hey, I don't think you're ready for this, and maybe you need something else? Is that how yes?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Yes. We Andrea and I, uh, you know, that's part of the reason why we want to do the sample edit, and we will typically ask for we want to see the entire manuscript or at least a good chunk of it, so we can skim through it just to look at different things and really to see if it's ready. If it doesn't look like it's ready, we actually don't want to work on it because that's not useful for anybody. It's obviously not useful to anybody who's writing a book, but it's also not useful to us, you know, practically speaking. We want to make sure that we're giving feedback that's valuable. And so if it needs more developmental attention or maybe a second set of beta reads and some revisions before it comes to us, we tell people that for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

And very important.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

A lot of people, rightly so, are worried about scams and things like that. And that's one of the ways that you can really make sure you're avoiding scams is you get a sample edit, and you know, a good editor shouldn't just be editing for everybody. They should make sure it's that partnership that you're describing. So I love that you mentioned that. And then the other question: how important is genre when it comes to the line editing phase or like a genre fit with your editor?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

That's a great question. Andrea may want to jump in on this one too, but like my take on that is that at least if the editor has a good familiarity with the genre that you're working in, that's a good thing because there are times when I feel like there will be word choices and ways to handle things that it helps to know the genre for. Like a great example, like off the top of my head, of course, is romance, because if you're having a steamy scene, there are certain ways that you're going to want to phrase things and certain ways that you're not going to want to phrase those things to make it seem enjoyable for the reader without being like overly silly or you know, unintentionally funny or any of the things that can happen, especially if you're a newer writer and just learning these things. So there are some things there too. Like I feel like science fiction would be another good example. You want at least somebody who's read some science fiction so that they understand, you know, like what is a faster-than-light drive, what is a, you know, just the different types of terminology that'll come up a lot. So that is helpful. That said, it doesn't necessarily mean that an editor can't do the genre that you're working in. It's just kind of getting to know how familiar they are and how much that matters to you. You may actually want somebody who comes at it from the viewpoint of somebody who's not super deep into your genre right now to give you a bigger picture and some other input on your style. You know, that's just kind of my thoughts anyway.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

I'd imagine too, that matters for pacing if you're writing a thriller and you go to someone who typically edits sweet romance. Maybe, you know, there could be a mismatch there or something.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

I would just add that some of it might depend where you are in the editing process. For example, on a developmental edit or a manuscript evaluation, your editor should know those genre expectations. So that's very helpful for a line edit, but you're going a little more granular on a line edit. So you could have someone who edits a little bit more broader than just your genre for that.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

So ideally, if they're ready for a line edit, those kind of key scenes and conventions would be met already in an ideal world.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yes, and it's also helpful to have editors who love to read all kinds of books, even you we we specialize in a few genres through the business, but Andre and I are a good example of people who really love to read just about anything. And I think that's a good thing in any editor because they're seeing all kinds of style choices being made, which is where the line editing feedback really comes in.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Yeah. Okay, I love that. So I have so many questions based on this. So let's pretend we're in the process of getting a line edit and we can talk about how you guys specifically work with writers, but I'm imagining some of these contextual things, like if we have faster-than-light travel or a certain kind of tech or magic, how do we communicate that kind of stuff to a line editor?

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Well, when we start out, you know, once we've determined that we want to work together or that the author wants to come in and work with us, part of the onboarding process is to create a style sheet. So that will include preferences on M-dash usage as well as slang, things specific to that world, a list of characters, and also, you know, maybe any other additional documents that they want to provide, like their series outline or anything that that they want to send our way that would be useful. And we keep all of that, and we have so much repeat business that we bring those style sheets forward, we keep those on file, and it just sort of becomes sort of a working document with that author. So we we know their style, we know the world, you know, when by the time we're at book three, we've got everything. So that's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

And how long does it typically take from the onboarding to when the writer's getting feedback to get a line edit done?

Timelines And Protecting Voice

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Good question. That's sort of a combination of what their ideal timeline is. We do try to match whatever the schedule of the author is as best as we can. But from onboarding, like doing the sample and all of that stuff, to starting the line edit can actually happen pretty quick, depending on how quickly the author and us that we're able to communicate and get things rolling. And then, you know, it's always a little bit different in terms of the timeline and the word count. But for an average length novel, something like maybe 75,000 words, we do like to have like say maybe four weeks, five weeks to go through everything that gives us a good length of time to read through it slowly enough and provide some feedback.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Yeah. Okay. I'm asking because I'm imagining there are writers out there who are like, I want to build this schedule and I need to know, you know, I've got my developmental editor timeline here, I've got my beta reader timeline, and they're plugging in, let's say about four, five, six weeks for this line edit process. So that's good to know. And then I want to ask you, I just have so many questions for you guys, but I want to ask you a fear that I hear a lot about working with line editors are is they're gonna change my voice. I'm sure you guys get this a lot. What would you say about that?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Well, we are really sensitive to that. We do not want to change someone's voice. I would say speaking directly to writers, this is your book. I will give you my opinion, and maybe the feedback has a lot of suggestions, but you don't have to accept those. It's okay with us, you know, it's your book, it's your decision on how to do that. I've you know heard sometimes maybe things work a little different depending where you are on the internet. But uh, as far as we're concerned, we're really sensitive to that. And I actually, when making suggestions and recommendations, try to emulate that person's style. You know, that's your voice. We're not gonna mess with that.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah. I have seen some of the feedback that you've offered to writers who come through my notes to novel program, and I will vouch for that. I also like how you guys will explain kind of why you're suggesting, or you might say, like, here's why I'm trying to give you this idea or prompt you. So it's not ever like you're saying, do this or your story's broken. You're saying, here's what I think, here's why you might want to do it. Totally up to you. So I love that style of feedback. I think the why is so important when you're giving comments on people's pages.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Honestly, one of our main goals is not just to turn your manuscript around, but to help you sustain a an author career, you know, like here's some advice. Here's an article you might want to read. Here's how you can add to your toolbox. So that's important to us too, making sure people have a lot of knowledge going forward.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Yeah, I love the writers who have worked with you guys when they're in my program and they're in my membership. They'll come back and they'll be like, Well, the ladies at Two Birds said I use this word too much or I do this too much. So I'm really trying to get that under control. So I actually see it happen in real time where they take your feedback and they're improving their future manuscripts, which is really cool. That's great. Yeah. So it's super fun. But okay, so then let's say we were this author, we've set aside the four to six weeks, we do the onboarding, we do the sample edit. Is it common for kind of there to be like radio silence in the four to six weeks that you guys are working on a manuscript? Michelle, you want to talk to them?

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Um, to a certain degree, yes, because we're just working away and every editor is different and every client is different as well. We never mind if somebody reaches out and says, Hey, so how's it going? Just because we appreciate the communication, and I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

On the other hand, we we are very much just we'll be working, we're worker bees and when we get on that stuff. So it's just we may be radio silent, but we may also reach out if we have questions, which I think is important to know. Like if everything is going well, it will be probably pretty quiet just because we're working and things are going smoothly. But if we see something that needs to be questioned or addressed, or you know, just that we need to talk back and forth with to arrive at a good solution, we'll do that. So if we get halfway through the manuscript and we're like, hmm, seems like there's a missing chapter or two here, or so, you know, like weird things that don't usually happen, but they could. We'll communicate about that. Or we may reach out if we have filled out the style sheet and we think we've got everything, but then we realize maybe a couple chapters in there's a certain style here. We want to talk to you about it, you know, to make sure that we're executing it as we go forward, that kind of thing.

Communication During The Edit

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Yeah, I think that's also good for writers to know who are very worried about potential scams and things like that. Is yeah there should be questions, right? And when I used to work with clients one-on-one, I would want to know that, you know, or I would want to have my questions answered to give them the best result possible. So I think that's also a good thing for anyone interviewing a line editor is to say, like, you know, are you going to be reaching out? What does that look like when you're reading and things like that? Just to see what they would say.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah, for sure. And more communication is always better than less. Yeah. And as far as we're concerned, yeah, just ask us what you want to know. We, you know, we can customize how we approach things for people too. So we're happy to do that.

Three Common Line-Level Problems

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Yeah, I love that. Okay, so let's kind of go into the weeds a little bit. I wanted to ask you, what are some of the most common issues that you guys are fixing during a line edit, or what are some of the most common mistakes? And we can boil them down to just like three if you guys want, ideally, so that listeners can take away from this episode some things they can start fixing in their own manuscripts.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Only three? Yeah, just keep it.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Well, we could we can go to five, whatever you want to do.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

What are you talking about? Authors don't make any, we don't see any problems or anything. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, there are some common things we do see come up. I would say a big issue is our clarity issues because you know we work with well, a lot of recurring business, but uh, we work with a lot of new writers too. And uh when you're just starting out, you've got such enthusiasm to get that story on the page and you just put it out there. But sometimes uh not everything is is very clear. So, you know, we look at everything from where someone was sitting or standing, or you know, there's ways you can kind of set up blocking a scene as well as word choices for just grammatical clarity as well. So clarity on different levels, and it just is a matter of slowing down and really reading with a fresh set of eyes. And so we do a lot of that. We add a lot of comments to manuscripts to help in in those areas.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah, and clarity I know is a huge one. It's something that I talk about a lot with the writers of my program, and I say a lot to make yourself uncomfortable with how clear you're being, and then you probably still need to add more because I find that there's a lot that lives in our head. It could be, like you said, blocking or movement in a scene. It could be why we're reacting in a certain way to something happening. It could be details about magic or tech or whatever. There are so many ways we could talk about clarity. But yeah, I think, you know, that is one of the biggest things I see as well. Is it's just like the comments you're gonna get are why is she doing this? Why did you write this? You know, what is actually happening here? And I find that those are kind of for the writer receiving that feedback, sometimes the most frustrating because they're like, I can see it in here. What do you mean? Why are you asking me that? You know, do you see the same thing?

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Yeah, agreed. And I would rather be Really nitpicky about something and let the author decide, no, I think this is clear enough, or I don't want to do that. But I would rather point it out than not, just to show that you know I'm trying to pay attention to those things, or that this might be a potential place where a reader might fall out of a story. Yeah. Like so, if I notice it, I may not be the only one who's gonna notice it.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Yeah, and to that point, the writer is probably getting a lot more feedback than they maybe need to execute on. Cause like you said, you're you're literally pointing out everything that you notice. And sometimes it's gonna be as the writer, yes, I definitely want to make sure this is clear. Other times it's like, well, I intentionally left that out for XYZ reasons. So, which I can imagine leads writers to maybe feel a little overwhelmed when they get feedback back. Do you guys deal with that at all?

SPEAKER_01 24:40

It's quite possible, and you know, in which case, you know, just come back to us with your questions. You know, we'll schedule a Zoom chat with you. I mean, these are these are not insurmountable issues. Would you want to speak to that, Michelle?

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, like what I always suggest is that first of all, do address the things that you can address. So if you get a comment or like even just an edited sentence that is throwing you off, you can skip it because we do everything in comments and track changes, it'll still be there and move on to the things that you can fix and then come back. Because sometimes you just need that extra little bit of space. You're obviously not going to accept all your line edits in a single day. It's gonna be a few days to a week or two process to go through everything. So do the easy stuff first and come back to the more challenging stuff. And then yeah, like we take Zoom calls and we do email questions back and forth every once in a while. We'll have somebody who will just say I made most of the changes, but I had questions on these five things. No problem. You know, that we're happy to help with that. That's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

So yeah, find out that's helpful. I love that you say tackle the easy things first, because that's probably the majority of the issues, I would imagine. And then the playing field is a little smaller once you get to the things that require a lot more thought. Right. But yeah, okay. So one of the top mistakes is a lack of clarity. What's the next one?

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Weak word choices. And this will, in our minds for the purpose of this podcast, covers things like overusing what we call hot words that may be fine in, you know, when you're talking to your partner or your kids, but maybe a reader does not want to read those words 472 times. So we have some common ones that we see, and then every writer has their own as well. And so once we get into a manuscript, we can pick up on those. Uh so you have a more robust manuscript, the more word choices you use. This also applies to verb usage, right? Uh passive verbs, ing verbs, if you can create uh stronger verb choices that moves the story forward in a stronger way.

SPEAKER_02 27:02

Yeah, and just being intentional with those choices. Speaking of hot words, so this would be things like I know one of mine is that. I love to use the word that. And then also I see in certain genres, there could be kind of flavors of how those hot words show up. Like in romance, it could be growled, you know, or side or things like that. So I think it's funny to see what they are in general, what they are in the genres, and then what they are per writer, because we all have our favorites. I know that. But I love I love that one. So hot words, and we'll we'll come back to you guys have a freebie for everyone about hot words. We'll come back to that in a minute. But what is the third biggest mistake or the biggest thing you guys catch?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Oh, that, oh, you're making me choose. Yeah. Um I would say maybe an inconsistent rhythm or tone to someone's writing. For example, if you have multiple POV, you really want each POV to have a unique tone and rhythm. And sometimes we get the opposite where everything sounds the same, and yeah, we might want to suggest doing that. But also, you know, as you go through the story, someone might be writing a little different at the beginning than they are in the middle or the end. And, you know, we want to kind of see that be a little more consistent through the document. And I'm also thinking about pacing, but Michelle, maybe you can talk about that as far as, you know, because some of that, of course, depends on the story.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

True. Yeah. Pacing is one of those things that can come in at the higher level, developmental level, but also can be very noticeable during the line edit, in part because sentences are what help create that sense of rhythm and movement and speed through the story. And so you want to have a consistent sense of this scene is supposed to happen slowly. We're supposed to take in everything. So the sentences can be really nice and long and meandering and have lots of phrases in them, as opposed to we've got a scene where things are happening fast and we want to create that sense of a character not being able to process everything. So you might want shorter sentences, or you might also want really quick word choices that create a glimpse of something to kind of mirror that sense of I've caught something out of the corner of my eye, but didn't get a really good look at it. And so pacing comes up a lot, I feel like during line edits, precisely because we're looking at do the sentences and the way that they're structured and the phrasing and the word choices all match what you're trying to create in that moment. And a lot of times they don't simply because the draft is maybe in an earlier stage in terms of that style application. And so we're looking for how do we make this feel stylistically like what you're trying to achieve in a scene. So we'll point those things out.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Yeah, that makes me think of someone who might be writing like a romantic suspense where you're kind of trying to do two different things in two different genres, and how do you blend that together? And I'm sure you guys have an eye for that too. Of well, this is a you know, a romantic scene is the focus of what's going on here. So we can be a little slower and a little more flowery, whatever, but also maintaining that tone and pace of the thriller or the suspense through that and vice versa.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah, definitely. We we look for all of that, and then we also, you know, we make sure that we're communicating back and forth with the author about those types of things that'll come up sometimes at the very beginning when we're onboarding and looking at the style sheet. What are you trying to achieve? And if it's not clear, we'll reach out to you to make sure that we're giving people the feedback that they need for each scene.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Yeah, and not assuming what they're trying to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Yeah, which is a big deal because some, you know, I know there are people out there who will assume, and that's when writers get feedback that it's like, this is not even what I'm trying to do. I hate this experience, but I know you guys don't do that. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah, again, it's your book. So you know right. It's your darling.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Yeah. Do you guys write too? We both do. Andrea's got a lot of uh, which I'll let her talk about for a second if she wants to, but she's got a lot of fiction books out. I've got some short stories out and I'm working on some nonfiction at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Okay. I ask because a lot of times I talk to editors and they're like, I have my own stuff I want to work on. I don't want to recreate yours or rewrite yours. And I can feel that coming through what you guys are saying. Like it's your book. We're writing our own things. We're not gonna worry about rewriting yours.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Yeah, exactly.

Hot Words Resource And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Yeah, that's so fun. Okay, so we've talked about what a line editor does and what the line editing process looks like, when to find a line editor, some things to look out for in terms of red flags, as well as the top issues that you guys see. And I know you wanted to give my audience a list of hot words to look out for in their manuscript. So we will put the link to that in the show notes, but it's two birdsauthorvices.com forward slash hot. But any last parting words of wisdom to someone who might be intimidated by working with a line editor or tackling their own line edits?

SPEAKER_01 32:10

I think if you're worried about what the process is like and it's a little intimidating, we've got you. You know, we we we work with a lot of new authors, we understand that the process is a lot, it's a big investment, not only in terms of money, but time and trust. And I do think Michelle and I pride ourselves on being ethical and available and you know, putting the author first. So that's important to us.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Yeah, and I can vouch for that. Because as I've said, I've seen you guys work with writers who listen to this podcast, come through my programs, and everything I've seen so far is very quality and there's a great attention to detail and a great care. So I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

We can say we can say the same about the clients that come to us from you. So yeah, really the manuscripts are in great shape and you know, always very quite polished, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

So yes. And just so listeners know, we are not affiliated with each other at all. We really love what the other has to offer. So uh no one's getting a kickback or anything. Uh we just really respect what the other has to offer. So, well, we are gonna link to where, again, where people can find you, but thank you both so much for coming on and chatting with me. I know that listeners are going to love this episode. They've been requesting more about line editing, and that is not my expertise. So I'm so happy to have you two pros here today. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Thank you for having me.

Revision Accelerator Invitation

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Thank you. All right, so that is a wrap on today's episode with Andrea and Michelle of Two Birds Author Services. And I hope you found that as helpful and as interesting as I did. What they said about line editing being the last stop in the revision process is so important. And honestly, it's something I wish more writers truly understood before they started revising their manuscripts. Because before a line editor can do her best work on your manuscript, you need to have the big picture stuff locked in first. The story structure, the character arcs, the scene level problems, all of it. And if you're in the revision stage right now and you're not sure how to tackle any of that, then that is exactly why I created the revision accelerator. The revision accelerator will help you diagnose your manuscript's biggest problems, prioritize what to fix, and walk away with a clear plan for revision so you can move forward with confidence, not guesswork. If you are ready to stop guessing what your story needs and start revising with a plan, then head over to SavannahGilbo.com forward slash revision to learn more and join me inside the revision accelerator. One more time, that's Savannah Gilbo.com forward slash revision. As always, thank you for tuning in. I hope your writing's going well, and I will talk to you next week.