When editing a novel (say a document of 75,000 words ) do you prefer to edit on the screen or print out the entire thing and get busy with pencils and red pens?

Guys, when you write interiority (thoughts in italics), if the character’s thought is a rhetorical question do you remove the question mark? Or keep it? Thanks 🙏

What’s the one thing stopping you from finishing your current WIP right now? Procrastination? Perfectionism? That endless research rabbit hole? We are have something - share yours below.

Hi everyone! I had a conversation with one of my alpha readers (aka critique partner) around a sentence from my novel. Please see below. "I’m tidying up the last things before heading out. One final look at my inbox, then I grab the trench coat, and switch off the Sonos." According to my alpha reader, grabbing "the" trench coat is not grammatically correct, and the sentence should read "I grab my trench coat." Not having defined the trench coat or not having given enough context doesn't warrant the use of a definite article. Basically, we don't know anything about it, so it cannot be called THE trench coat. If, for example, I'd said "I look for something warm in the wardrobe. I grab the trench coat and leave", that would have worked, because we are already in the realm of clothing and the character is looking into a wardrobe. Now, I can totally see where this is coming from, but to me it feels there's enough context? And I struggle to see how it becomes a plain grammar mistake. The character is clearly heading out, and performs a number of actions typical of who gets ready to leave the office, including grabbing a coat that can just assume is his. I do trust my alpha reader, who is a linguist and a translator, but I wonder whether the precise, academic grammar might have got in the way of what we can and cannot say in fiction? Or I am simply plain wrong, which is equally fine, but I'd like to know why :D What do you think? P.S. I know this is an easy fix and not a biggie at all. At this point, it's mostly an intellectual curiosity for me :)