6 Reasons to Love Editing (From People Who Actually Do)

What if editing isn’t drudgery, but the most delightful part of your writing process?

So you’re revising yet another draft. You’re hoping against hope that this draft will be your final draft. Which, coincidentally, is also what you hoped for the last draft, and the one before that.

Editing is a slog you’re trudging through. You dream of the day when you can escape this drudgery and return to the free-flowing fun of writing the first draft of your next book.

But what if editing isn’t an obstacle you have to grit your teeth and bear?

What if it’s where the magic happens?

It would release the pressure to make this draft your last draft. It would make the process itself more fun, a reward in and of itself. And paradoxically, when you’re working from pleasure rather than pressure, your editing work could become more efficient, because you give the process the space it needs.

So I asked six authors, editors, and book coaches the same question:

What do you love about editing?

The answers they shared vary widely. They’re a whole host of things: everything from puzzle-solving and understanding the mechanics that makes something work to personal development, community building, and meaning-making.

In this episode, I’m sharing all their answers with you, in hopes of sparking a little of your own editing joy.

Listen for what resonates with you. You might discover one new thing to love—or a whole new perspective on revision.

And if you already love editing, well, I think you’ll find this episode an absolute delight.

Plus, I want to know what you love about editing! Record a 1-minute voicemail sharing what you love about editing, and I might feature it in a future podcast episode.

Tell me what you love about editing here »

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Savannah Gilbo: 91. How to Use Genre as a Revision Tool
• A.S. King: 82. How Surrealist Pantser A.S. King Revises Award-Winning Novels
• Cathryn deVries: 76. Scene Workshop: Hook Your Readers in Chapter One
• Brannan Sirratt: 80. How to Use Revision Tools Like the Story Authority You Already Are
• Abigail K. Perry: 86. How Great First Chapters Make Readers Care
• Abigail K. Perry: 89. How Great First Lines Make Readers Pay Attention
• Kim Kessler & Cathryn deVries: 78. How Multiple Layers of Editing Combine to Perfect Your Story

Transcript

0:00

So you are revising yet another draft. You are hoping against hope that this draft will be your final draft, which coincidentally is also what you hoped for the last draft and the one before that. Editing is a chore that you're trudging through. You dream of the day when you can escape this drudgery And return to the free flowing fun of writing the first draft of your next book. But what if editing isn't an obstacle? You have to grit your teeth and bear. What if it's where the magic happens? What if it's not simply a necessary chore, but a playground of creativity and joy? what if it weren't something you have to get through, but something that you love to get to? What would that mean? It would release the pressure to make this draft your last draft. It would make the process itself more fun, a reward in and of itself. And paradoxically, when you're working from pleasure rather than pressure, your editing work could become more efficient because you give the process the space it actually needs. So I asked six authors, editors and book coaches the same question. What do you love about editing? The answers they shared very widely. There are a whole host of things, everything from problem solving and understanding the mechanics that make something work to personal development, community building and meaning making. In this episode, I'm sharing all their answers with you in the hopes of sparking a little of your own editing joy. Listen for what resonates with you. You might discover one new thing to love or a whole new perspective on revision. And if you already love editing, well I think you'll find this episode an absolute delight. Enjoy it and be sure to let me know what you love about editing too. Welcome to your next draft. This is the first episode of 2026. More than that, it's also the 100th episode of the podcast. Can you believe it? I'm a little bit in awe. A hundred episodes, nearly 48 hours of content. It would take you two entire days to listen to the whole of your next draft. That's just wild to me. It is wild to take on a creative project of enormous magnitude and stick with it through all the ups and downs of literal years of creative work. A huge accomplishment. And I know you know what I'm talking about because you are literally years into the creative process of crafting your novel too. So. Today we get to set the tone for editing novels in 2026 and celebrate the hundredth episode milestone of your next draft. And I know just the way to do that. This is an episode that I've been looking forward to making for a long time, and I am pumped to finally share it with you. it's a celebration of editing, a whole host of things to love about it. It is no secret that I love editing. I am obsessed with it more so than almost anyone that I know. And sure, I know that writers don't usually get into telling stories because the editing process is what lights them up above all else. But the reality is, if you are setting out to craft excellent novels, you are going to spend the bulk of your time in the revision process. You will write one first draft, but you'll write three or five or a dozen revisions. Great writing is rewriting. The magic happens in revision. Yes, my job is to edit novels, but also your job is to edit novel. So I want to help you cultivate a love of editing too. And so in 2025, every time I brought a guest onto the podcast, I ended our conversation with this question, what do you love about editing? The answers range widely from pragmatic and practical to romantic and philosophical. They reflect on aspects of editing that you've probably experienced and some that you may not yet have explored. And one of my guests herself, a professional editor, is bluntly honest and reveals that sometimes she doesn't like editing and what keeps her coming back to it anyway. So in this episode, I present to you, gathered together all in one place, six guests and their reasons to love editing. As you listen, I invite you to reflect on what you love about editing, what's delightful, what's exciting, what's rewarding, what keeps you coming back for more. I would love to hear what you love about editing. Literally, I would love to hear from you, and so I've set up a little voice mailbox for this episode. Go to alice sudler.com/voicemail, hit record and tell me what you love about editing. If I get enough clips, I'll compile them into a future episode. But for now, without further ado, let's hear what these six editors book coaches and authors love, starting with Savannah Gibo. She's an editor, book coach and the host of the fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. She also teaches a fabulous course called Notes to Novel, where she helps writers turn story ideas into completed drafts for novels that work. Here's what she loves about editing.

Savannah Gilbo: 6:22

I love the cerebral challenge of it almost. I love that part and I love mixing it with the creativity. and I love the partnership between editor and writer because I am very happy to take the analytical role and say like, you know. The pacing here is broken, whatever. And then how do you think we should fix that and letting the writer rely on their creative brains, uh, to solve the problems From a kind of more like selfish perspective, I love learning how stories work. I'm a super nerd about mechanics of things and um, I've always been the person that will take things apart to figure out how they work. So I love doing that. And then also helping people take apart what they've built and make it match their vision more. So it's just literally the best job in the world.

7:12

I feel every bit of that. The cerebral challenge crossed with creativity, the fascinating study of mechanics, the creative partnership between writer and editor, and of course the best job in the world. To hear Savannah breaking down story, mechanics had to episode 91, where she shares how she uses genre as a revision tool. Next up is as king. She's the multi-award winning author of more than a dozen young adults and middle grade novels, including her latest Pick the Lock and the Prince Award-winning novel dig. In her decades of writing, she's honed a three draft revision process, which she shared in our conversation back in episode 82. And here's what she loves about revision.

Amy: 8:00

the possibility Revision is all about possibility. I mean, being able to look at. Um, it's the way a hairdresser must look at hair, right? I remember the, I a good hairdresser, right? I remember going to Michael, my hairdresser the first time and he pulled my hair out. He did all the, oh God, your hair's so gorgeous. And I'm looking at him, I'm like, what are you even talking about? He gave me the most bodacious, epic layers that I have ever seen in my hair. And I'm like, this man knows what he is doing. And I was like, look, make it look like I have a jawline. Please. Can I have a chin back? Like I am in my, you know, like early fifties. Can we, can we? And he's like, yes. Um, and so the possibilities, when I look at a manuscript, I know how many possibilities are in there and, and whether it's someone else's or mine, but especially mine, I think when it comes to Rev, you get to cut those layers. You know what the bonus of writing is? That it's not like hair. Um, if you screw up, you can hit the go back button. Um, you can go retrieve the stuff that you cut, you know, from your cut file and you don't have to wait for your hair to grow back. You can do it pretty instantly. But yeah, the possibilities are just endless.

9:10

This is surprisingly easy to miss. I've found once a draft makes it to paper, it calcify. We get attached to the words we've already written, the ideas we've already envisioned. It takes a conscious stretch to expand beyond those limits and explore the possibilities of what could be. I am always encouraging my writers to set their manuscripts aside, let that calcification go and dream even bigger. And talking with Amy King inspired me even further to hear how Amy explores the endless possibilities in her own revision process. Check out episode 82. Next up is Catherine DeVries. She's the author of the Novella, son of Osirus, coming in February, 2026. As well as a romantic fantasy trilogy currently under contract. Catherine worked with both me and my colleague Kim Kessler to revise these stories. First, she collaborated with Kim to solidify the big picture story structure and map out a seamless that works. Then she revised the manuscript seen by scene with my feedback to make every page sing. Catherine joined me on the podcast twice, so she has a few things to share that she loves.

Cathryn: 10:30

I love the feeling of cracking something cracking a problem just feeling that deep that's it feeling in my body And yeah reading just knowing that I've been able to amplify my own I have my own limited abilities like you have your abilities and together creating something that is more than the sum of both of us That just feels amazing and that's probably the thing I love most For this editing process, I think the thing I loved most about it was its collaborativeness, and the trust that, the trust that was, built, and just knowing that you guys were in my corner, the whole time, and I feel like we're friends, as much as it, you know, client, relationship, but I do feel like we're friends and I can trust you and I can just, you know, chat and, I think that is what I loved about this particular editing process.

11:40

I too love cracking a problem. It is such a satisfying feeling. The moment when you find a solution that just works and it feels so clear and right, and editing and community with a collaborative team to support you is so incredibly inspiring and rewarding and fun. It's been such a delight to join Catherine and her storytelling process to hear that collaborative revision in process. Check out episode 76 There, Catherine and I revise a scene of her novel together. Next up is Brandon sra. Brandon is unique among my guests She's actually a book developer for non-fiction books. She works with non-writer who want to share their expertise and experience in book form, and one of the topics she and I discuss most often is the authority that it takes to be an author. That's her favorite thing about editing.

Brannan: 12:36

I think in my case, I really love seeing the author emerge. I think that's my favorite. I really love watching the author emerge. I like when they, when they start off a little bit like timid and like, I kind of have a thing, is it okay if I show you? And they end in this space of, can we be done now because I have to share this with people? or sharing it before it's published, like watching them really step into that authority that they've always had in them, but maybe haven't been able to articulate or see in themselves is really beautiful. And, and I think I've seen that in fiction authors. I haven't hung out with them as long. I've seen it in your people moving from. I don't know to like, Oh, this is good. And that you can almost see it happen in a call, even when they're like their posture moves forward and their eyes light up and they're like, yeah, that's the thing. And then when that holds and they're in that space on the next call and the next call, and then you see them sharing it out in the wild. And that is just, Absolutely gorgeous. I think it's a, there's a, a human development kind of thing happening there more than just book development. And I could do that forever.

13:56

The longer I've spent working in books, the more I've come to understand what Brandon's really talking about here. There really, really is a human development piece that's integral to revising a book. As you spend time with a story, as you come to understand it more deeply and understand why you're telling it and why it matters, and understand yourself through that story, and as you make a hundred thousand decisions about everything from genre to plot, to word choice, and commas, you become the authority who champions that story. And that authority is such necessary empowerment to prepare you for the publishing process. The publishing industry will not go out of its way to empower you, but when you step into that process as a confident and empowered author, as the authority over your ideas and your book, you will ensure that your book makes it into the hands of the readers who need it most. To hear more from Brandon on your authority as an author, check out episode 80. Next up is Abigail K. Perry. She's an editor and book coach and the host of the Lit Match podcast. She's brilliant at navigating the line between art and business. She helps writers tell their stories really, really well and position those stories in the marketplace. Here's what she says. Ooh. What do I love about editing? Well, I really love that there's this challenge that you can rise to, to make something the best version of itself. That you can learn something new from what you are writing every time you return to make it better. And that can challenge yourself to reflect on what is it that can make this the best that it can be. And I hope I'm saying this in the, in like in the right way. I feel like if I sat with this question more, I can answer this more because. Like, honestly, like editing can be exhausting, right? So I think that like the honest answer to that is that there's a lot of editing that I don't like, but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the puzzle and trying to figure out. How to make something better. And when you do hit those aha moments, it's extremely exciting. Right. And fulfilling. So you keep pushing for those moments. But a lot of the times when you're in the mud, it's like, ugh. You know? Like we're still in the mud in the best way though, right? Because I think that it's like what I lo, I guess like that I love about, what I love about editing is that you can find how to dig deep and be resilient so that when you do come out of something. You can be proud of it beyond measure, not only because of the product and how it can connect and help others, but also because you understand what it took to get that. And you learn something new about yourself each time you do something hard. And I think like that's where it's like, can you persevere and can you have resiliency in this process? And if you can, you're going to create something. Extraordinary I've asked several guests that question, and I love the way I phrased it because it presupposes you love editing, and you're the first person who has challenged me on that and said, well, sometimes I don't. So I love that you brought that on because I do, because I really like, I really like the final product when I have the emotional experience. Right, right. Yeah. Catharsis, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's real that I think that a lot of people don't really enjoy editing and they don't. It takes a while to see what is good about it. So I love that when that you're honest, sometimes you don't love it, but also this is what you see that is wonderful about it and why it's so rewarding and so worth it. Yeah. That's where it's like, I think like one of my super strengths is I am, I really love just really talking about something that I love, like, like it's like promoting, that's the word I wanted. I really love analyzing and promoting. Supporting a story that I really love. So it's like my sweet spot is actually more that, and the editing is the grueling work to get there, right? But I love that that work is what ends with something that you just wanna shout to everyone, to mountains about. And for me, I'm just a very emotional person. So like anything that can, can help me explore the emotions and help me learn about myself and my emotions and where I stand in it all. Through characters. That's what I'm here for. You know, it's like when something can touch me in an emotional way, and it can be very exciting when you start to see that come to life and you learn. It's that learning, right? It's like the growth mindset. So I think that's huge. I mean, learning is one of the most satisfying things that we can do as people constantly learning be better, right? Like how to be the best versions of ourselves and yeah, you, you learn it like literally when you're in the editing process and you learn from it in order to continue moving forward. Right? Abigail is the first guest who flipped the question around on me and said that a lot of the time she doesn't love editing, And I love that she said that because I know so, so many writers feel that way and there are a lot of ways you can navigate that feeling. You can decide to call it quits, to walk away from a manuscript that isn't working. You can decide to declare it done. To say the version you've created now is as far as you want to take it and publish it as is. Or you can dig deep, deep, deep and persevere through some really tough revision trenches to create something beyond what you could imagine. Abigail doesn't sugarcoat it. That path is hard, but it's so incredibly rewarding both in the story you create and in the way you grow as a person through the process And everything Abigail's saying, especially about resilience through the creative process, rings especially true to me as I sit here producing episode 100. That challenge to dig deep. I felt that and the reward of creating something greater than you knew you could. You can hear Abigail talk about how she tackles some of the toughest revision challenges in episodes 86 and 89. There. She shares her best advice for writing first lines that hook readers, agents and editors, and writing first chapters that make your readers care. Our final guest is Kim Kessler. Kim is an editor, book coach and author. She is an absolute genius at big picture story structure, at character arcs and internal genres, and in helping writers find the meaning they want to make and the story that will convey that meaning best. She and I have worked together on many stories in the past, like Catherine's, whom you heard from earlier, and we're going to collaborate even more in 2026. Here's what Kim shared.

Kim: 21:06

Silence. So gosh, so I think for me, so many things I love about editing, but I really do think um, it boils I love making things make sense. Um, I love helping people make things that make sense to them. Right. so, because what happens is I think when you can make sense of something, it gives you. Agency to right? So it's like, if you can what's working or what's not working or what, well, if you do it like this, the meaning will, most people will take it to mean this, but if you do it this way, people might take it to mean this. There's nothing wrong with either of those. Which one do you actually want to make? And so by just seeing the clarity of like how readers process like how we use storytelling in our thinking, like all of those kinds of things, when we can apply that to like, Catherine's very specific story, or we can apply it to our writing process in general, like the way I feel about myself, like just that idea of going, to make sense of something so that I can make choices. It's like my very own turning point crisis moment where I'm like, Oh, I see this information. So now I can actually make a choice about it based on what's valuable to me. And so there's a meaning making that happens in storytelling. Whether it's on the page or in your own process or just you like as a human But that idea of getting getting to that truth will out moment So then you go you realize the choice that's at stake And you have to decide Well, what do you want to do? Like what do you care about most And you're the only one That can decide what you're going to care about most. And I think just the thing that I love about editing is that it gave me this of agency where I get to go, I get to decide what matters to me. Um, and So to my readers, and so to my protagonists, and so to my antagonists, And so to my writers, and like all of it, like, you as an individual, that's like the only thing I can control is what I decide to care about most, and that's what will drive my decisions. So just watching characters, whether it's prescriptive tales or cautionary tales, just seeing humans in action, getting information, and figuring out what the hell to do with it, and make the choice that they want to make, and then I get to decide Yeah, I agree, or I don't agree, or, oh, I have, I would evaluate that similarly or differently, like, It doesn't matter. I get to know myself more by watching protagonists make their choices. And I get to decide if I align with that or not. So there's just something about editing because we're, we're, what are we doing? What is what do we say we're doing? We're taking the implicit and making it explicit. So just that, that process for me as a human has been a very healing and has been very life giving and agency creating. Um, and it's the thing that's, allowing me to gas up myself a little bit less

24:14

I love every bit of this so much. I spend a lot of time exploring why this work, the work of novel writing and storytelling and book. Matters. And Kim articulated something about story philosophy that I wholeheartedly believe. Story helps us understand ourselves. Story shows us what's actually at stake, invites us to connect with our values and priorities, and empowers us to make choices accordingly. That is incredibly meaningful work. It's right up there. What the human development Brandon talked about and the learning that Abigail talked about. Reading a story, writing a story, and especially revising a story is an incredible invitation into growth. I love it so, so much. You can hear more about how Kim uses story to make meaning in episode 78. That's a conversation between Kim, Catherine and myself about the revision journey that we went through together to make Catherine's manuscript shine. And so there you have it, what six editors book. Coaches and authors love about editing. Savannah loves the cerebral challenge, the puzzle. Amy loves the infinite possibility. Catherine loves the satisfaction of cracking a complex problem. Brandon loves seeing authors step into their authority. Abigail loves how perseverance and resiliency enable you to create something you are immeasurably proud of. And Kim loves how storytelling gives her agency to choose what matters most to her. I love the common themes here. I could sift these into two buckets, a problem solving bucket and a personal growth bucket. And at the same time, I love how widely varied all these are. We all bring something different to editing and we all draw something different from it, and so I invite you to explore what do you love about editing? Is there something about the puzzle solving that appeals to you? Something about the human development that happens along the way or something else entirely? What joy can you find in the process itself? Not simply in the outcome of the excellent book it results in, but then the actual experience of editing. What about editing is fun, energizing, delightful, exciting to you. Because like I said, right at the start, the editing process is where you'll spend the bulk of your time as a writer, so it is vital to find the reward in the work itself. If it's all miserable drudgery, you won't keep going. More than that, though, I genuinely believe that the process of revising draft after draft, honing and shaping your story into its most powerful form can absolutely be the most fun part of creating a novel. And so I encourage you to take a minute to pause and think about what you love about editing, what keeps you coming back, and I really would love to hear what you come up with. I really enjoyed putting this episode together and hearing from all of these book people in their own words, and I think it would be really powerful to hear from lots of writers speaking about what you love too. And so I'm trying something new. I set up a voicemail box where you can record a voice memo and send it to me. It's super easy. You just go to alice sudler.com/voicemail, hit start recording, and then talk into your phone or computer. Then you'll be able to listen back to your recording, type in a couple of fields to share your name and email address, and then hit send and share it with me. So go to alice sulo.com/voicemail and send me a one minute voice memo answering the question, what do you love about editing? If I get enough responses, I'll compile them into another episode and share them with you. So if you want to get inspired by the things that other writers love about editing, Be sure to send me your voice memo. Go to alice sudler.com/voicemail and hit record. Super simple. What do you love about editing? That's how I would like to celebrate 100 episodes of your next draft and where I'd like to start you off this year. Tap into what you love about this essential, inescapable, transformative aspect of the writing process. look for the ways in which this work itself is its own reward, and let that fuel you as you return to your story in 2026. Until next time, happy editing.