You thought of a great idea, gathered the information and used your keyboard to create a piece of art. Now comes the tough part—editing.
If editing other people’s work is challenging, editing your own writing is downright painful.
It’s difficult to edit your own work for several reasons.
First, it’s your art. Your writing is a personal form of expression. No matter the subject, the piece is something you created. This makes revising, redrafting and cutting difficult. (Read more about why this is necessary to edit and condense your writing.)
Second, you’re too close. You crafted the words into sentences, which you then read and reread. It makes sense to you. You understand the topic. You know what you meant to say. It’s difficult for you to recognize when others have no idea what you’re talking about.
Third, humans make mistakes. Have you ever seen one of these?
Our eyes play tricks on us. We read right over typos that we normally would catch in other people’s writing.
Self-editing is difficult, but it’s also necessary. We don’t all have a full-time copy editor waiting to review our text. Even those of us who have worked with a full-time editor understand that cleaner copy leaving our hands means more control of the final product. In short, the ability to self-edit is critical to publishing autonomy.
11 Tips for Editing Your Own Writing
1. Just write first
We all know someone who writes five words and deletes two, making it a miracle that any piece is ever done. Don’t edit while you’re writing. Just get it all out. You can come back and fix it later.
2. Start with spell check
Although you shouldn’t rely completely on spell check (there’s a key difference between public and pubic, but they’re both words), it is a good place to start. Go ahead and run the spell checker before you begin editing, just don’t rely on it as your only defense against errors.
3. Step away
One of the best ways to recognize errors in writing is to step away from the piece. This could be something as simple as running to the restroom or to get a coffee. I like to let a piece rest overnight before I proofread it, but that’s not always possible. My favorite outcome is coming back to a story and realizing it’s not as bad as I previously thought.
4. Change formats
Printing out your story allows you to catch more errors than reading it on the screen.
If something prevents you from printing a piece, consider either reading in “preview” mode or bumping up the point size and changing the font before editing. These simple format changes make it easier to catch errors.
5. Change locations
You can take the format change concept further by printing the piece, taking a break and then reading the copy elsewhere. I worked with a reporter who always printed his story and edited it while sitting in a comfy chair in the lobby. Believe it or not, a change in location makes a big difference.
6. Read aloud
Read your work out loud and change anything that doesn’t make sense or that you stumble over. If you have to read a sentence more than once before you understand it, change it.
7. Read all the way through
Read the piece all the way through and consider it as a unit before you begin marking edits or making changes.
8. Macro edit
After reading the piece, consider the big picture. Are there sections that need to be cut or added? Is key information missing or easily identified? Does the piece flow?
Don’t start with polishing every sentence. Get the big stuff right first, then work into the details. Otherwise, you’ll end up carefully editing sentences that you’ll later cut or change.
9. Micro edit
Once you’re broadly happy with the shape and flow of your piece, it’s time to cut. Since it’s easier to write long than it is to write short, we tend to use more words than necessary. My advice is to pretend that every word costs you a dollar and save yourself some money.
When you micro edit, you’re considering every sentence and each word.
Make sure the piece uses correct style, spelling and grammar.
Write sentences in the most active voice possible, using subject, verb, object construction.
It’s also helpful to know you own habit words, so you can look for them in your writing. For example, that is my habit word. I use that way more than necessary. So, one of the first things I do during the micro editing process is eliminate the word that in every possible usage.
10. Reread
Be sure to reread your piece once you’re done editing. Sometimes you accidentally edit in mistakes or skim over them. If you can print again, move to another location and read aloud, do all of those steps again at this point.
11. Spell check
I always end my writing process with another spell check. I usually say this is using “spell check just because you can.” After all, it only takes a couple of seconds, but it can save a lot of frustration in the end.
The best advice I can offer is to get a good copy editor for the final step in the process. However, this isn’t always feasible, and you should complete these steps anyway.
Self-editing is difficult, but it’s certainly not impossible. I hope these 11 tips help you publish cleaner copy, avoiding errors that frustrate you when someone else catches them after publication
What tips or tricks do you use when editing your own writing?
“kmueller62: 11 Tips for Editing Your Own Writing http://t.co/KjclPCtoWdoWd vprofkrgkr#PREL410410
geoffliving profkrg My worlds just collided. Kenna was one of my profs. Small world.
This is what seanmcginnis calls “awesome meets awesome.” BrandonBuckner: geoffliving My worlds just collided. Kenna was one of my profs.
BrandonBuckner profkrg Super small world!
Hey Kenna
Awesome List.
I would never have thought to try a new location.
Very smart 🙂
Happy Friday
Ciao
danielalex_book Thank you so much. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Kenna
Amazing list, thanks for sharing. I tend to agree that I get to close to my writing and have to step away. Sometimes I even have to let something sit for a while and then when I come back I have a whole new take on it!
dadofdivas Yes, just letting it settle for a bit really does help.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Kenna
SAME!! Soooo Tricky.
Great list! One thing that also helps for me is to print it out. Maybe I am old fashioned, but reading it on paper still helps my editing. Thanks! Jon
ThinDifference That one also helps me a ton. Plus, editing on paper just goes better for me.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Kenna
I wouldn’t have thought about changing location before editing either, it’s something I’ll have to try. One thing I did try that seemed to work was bullying my project onto my Kindle and re-reading it there. Typoes made themselves a lot more obvious, and it was cheaper than the ink and paper.
Thank you!
PaxAsteriae Thanks for reading and commenting!
Kenna
“PegFitzpatrick: 11 Tips for Editing Your Own Writing http://t.co/lkZtbithulhul vprofkrgkr#paperlegendsnds
Excellent advice: 11 Tips for Editing Your Own Writing http://t.co/mAYKMvJOhtOht vprofkrgkrg &amNickKelletlet
When I have to proof on my own, I like to print it out. I also catch more errors that way. If an article is too long, I take out sections and use them as a basis for a new article. Now that hubby is home full time he gets to proof my work and I return the favor.
Kathy_Robinson Two sets of eyes are always better, but not always possible. It’s nice that you have a partner for that.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Kenna
profkrg Kathy_Robinson A partner is always necessary, how much efforts you do but when your manuscript comes in front of others eyes, you remember your mistakes.
thanks
gingerconsult http://t.co/9gJ4680lSnlSn
profkrg I want to read the 11 tips but the link will not open….could you RT it? Thanks
Excellent article Ms. Prof KRG. I am always looking out for improving my writing skills and here is what I have wanted extra.
Re read, reading loud and spelling check are great points to know your writing
Reading your writing out loud makes a HUGE difference. There are things you read one way in your head (and assume it’s correct) that you’ll find reads a completely different way when you read it out loud. (And that “completely different” way is likely the way your audience will read it.
That one trick has saved me many times.
patricksplace Thanks, Patrick! I appreciate you.
Everyone should check out this article RT profkrg 11 Tips for Editing Your Own Writing http://t.co/1wB34owY47Y4#writingi#bloggingi#editinging
ProfWritingOSU Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the fine list. I used it as a jumping off place for a blog post of my own: “How I Speed Up Writing & Editing” http://www.ddmcd.com/speed.html
I definitely agree with the need to keep macro and micro editing separate. Sol Stein’s “On Writing” recommends a five step approach called Triage.
http://www.sarahmblood.com
SarahMBlood
SarahMBlood I’ll have to review that.
Excellent tips
The jumbled text illustrating how we read with a mental autocorrect has some typos. Unjumbling the letters reveals an opening of “According to a researchch”, extra “ch” included. Maybe I just have editor’s brain right now.
profkrg thanks so much for sharing. It was just added to my RebelMouse http://rbl.ms/1JX8oE4
EmilyHavensDSN I’m glad you found it helpful, Emily. Happy Wednesday!
HLibraryofLife Thank you!
profkrg Great tips, thanks! 🙂
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