Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Editing My Own Work

I’m always curious about what works for writers. What rules are most important? What spurs on their thoughts when up against a dead end? How do they organize a paper and why?

I’ve read from the cannon: Hemmingway On Writing, Strunk & White, ect. But at this point I’m really curious about writers like me, ordinary Joes and Janes doing it in their spare time.

I’m combing the blogosphere for posts about this, so if you know of one or have written one, please save me some time and link to it in a comment. In the meantime, because I shouldn’t ask anyone to do something I’m not willing to do, I’ll post some of my ideas too. (I don’t profess to be an brilliant essayist worthy of dolling out expert advice to the masses, so don’t get your hopes up too high!)

That said, sit back and enjoy. Here comes my first installment of:

Tips and Tricks Tuesday
Editing My Own Work

(I realize it’s actually Friday, but I will be doing this on Tuesdays henceforth.)

Each time anyone writes anything, they should at least read through it once and edit it. I always do, even for text messages and facebook comments. After I write a paper or blog post I edit a little more in-depth (this is what I will write about today). And then of course there are other more formal writing projects that almost require more tweaking than writing! But there’s no need to go that far here.

• The first thing I do is address all the red and green squiggly lines. I don’t change them all, just double-check them.

  

• Then I read through for continuity. Which spots feel funny? Do I need a transition or more explanation anywhere? Is there anyplace where my words draw attention to themselves and therefore detract from the meaning? I re-word these parts so that hopefully my words are either invisible or add to the meaning when attracting attention. I don’t want the audience to think too hard about the structure of my sentences or my word choices.

• Then I check the flow. Does the order of topics and/ or paragraphs make sense? Would a different order be more helpful? Obviously intros and transitions have to be adjusted a little bit if you change the order, but that doesn’t have to be a big deal.

• After that it’s time to prune. Every single word and line has to count. If it doesn’t proactively add to the point; it detracts and must go. This part can be tough, especially if you’ve worked hard on a bit and have to toss it. I look closely for extra words like ‘really’ and ‘very’. These can almost always be eliminated, and the point is stronger for it. I look for extra commas. There are almost always a dozen or so commas that can go. I also check to see how many times I’ve used the word “was.” If I’ve used it more than 3 or 4 times I try to replace it with a stronger verb.

• When I’m happy with all of that I check the look and feel of the piece. Would a different font or size be helpful? Do I need a picture to break up all the writing? How about a bulleted list or other device?

• Then comes the home stretch. I read through one more time looking for anything that stands out in a negative way and tweak it. I make sure I’ve said everything I want to say. Then if there’s time, I sleep on it and check again in the morning.

Geez, now that I’ve written this out I no longer wonder why it takes me hours to write a post! But there’s nothing as rewarding as the feeling associated with a job done well.