The editing process for a novel is long and slow. But there are some really exciting moments in it, and one of the best is receiving First Pages from my editor.

This is where the book has been laid out in its final design. There are always a few things missing, like the acknowledgements page. And it’s not bound – it’s just a pile of loose pages held together with a rubber band and without a cover. But at last, after all the work and all the frustration and hair tearing, it looks like a real book.

So last week I received the First Pages for Secret Guardians, the third and last book in the Rogues trilogy. My job this week is to read through the story once again and see if I want to make any small changes. I’ll also get questions from the proofreader, so there will be a few things to sort out there.

But for now I’m just loving the way it looks, and being wildly impressed by how much a good designer contributes to a book.