Sally Jenkins

Along with all the usual extra December activities and preparations, the copyedits for my third novel with ChocLit/Joffe Books landed just before Christmas with a deadline of 6th January. I spent the holiday period squeezing in as much editing time as possible – but still ensuring I got to see all the family and didn’t miss out on the turkey and wine!
Copyedits are suggested changes at sentence level (it’s assumed that the structure of the story as a whole is working by this point) to ensure clarity and a smooth read, plus continuity/timeline issues will be highlighted and the odd incorrect fact might be spotted. During this process I learned a couple of things:
The book is set at Christmas and I mention that one character is watching a rerun of the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film from 1971. My editor correctly pointed out that this version of the film actually has the title, ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory‘. A few reasons have been put forward on Wikipedia for this title change, some political and one relating to product placement of the Wonka chocolate bar. Make of them what you will.
I also refer to Slade’s hit Merry Christmas Everybody, but again I had that title wrong. It should be Merry Xmas Everybody. I was grateful to have these errors pointed out to me – and it just goes to show that we should always double check everything before inclusion!

In other news, Amazon have picked one of my earlier books, A Coffee Break Story Collection: 36 Short Stories, for one of their ‘deals’. For the month of January they have reduced the Kindle edition from £2.99 to only 99p and are promoting it! This is a rare happening – so, if you enjoy a short story or 36, fill your boots (and your Kindles!) while you can.