You can edit your own writing with great success if you follow these 5 easy steps.
1. QUIT DOING WHAT YOU ALWAYS DO WRONG.
Make a list of the things you know you always have difficulty writing correctly. Use the list while you are writing and later as a checklist when editing. There is no excuse for always doing the same thing wrong. If you know you always mix up the usage for 'their' and 'there', pay particular attention to these words when you are writing.
Especially if your story is long, you should keep a running list of every character you have and the physical and psychological traits you have assigned them. Later when you come back to that character you will have the correct details right at your fingertips.
2. WALK THE DOG BEFORE DOING YOUR EDITS.
Your book, or paper, is now written, but you are not done. You must let some time go by after you have finished your writing, and what better way to do that than by taking Max out for his needed walk? Clear your mind. When you return, play with your kids. Do SOMETHING that allows you to clear all thoughts of your writing from your brain. Generally speaking, the more pages your writing is, the more time you should wait before starting to edit.
3. BECOME BEST FRIENDS WITH YOUR WORD PROCESSOR'S SEARCH FUNCTION.
Click 'edit' from the top menu, and then select 'find'. Fill in 'their' in the 'find what' box. Then search your document and make sure you used the word properly. 'Their' is used to show the possessive, such as, "Their house is beautiful." 'There' is used to show a location or state of being, such as, "There are three children in their family. They went there on their vacation." Use this search function to search for all of your problem words and punctuation. If your character has blue eyes in chapter one, then make sure he is still blue eyed in chapter five by searching for 'eyes' or 'eyed'.
4. USE DIFFERENT WAYS TO EDIT YOUR WRITING.
-If your article is fairly short, you should look at it critically and REARRANGE it. It is never perfect the first time you write it.
-Use the 'tools - word count' in your word processor and get a count of the words in you document. Then, tighten the writing by forcing yourself to reduce the word count by 5% or some number that you pick. If you can't remove some words, you haven't tried hard enough.
- Check some Internet databases on grammar if you are not sure of proper grammar usage. Just be careful which sources you consult.
-Eliminate run-on sentences. "I ran to the store, I bought my groceries." is just plain wrong! If you have a subject and a verb, it's a sentence. Two sentences must always be separated by a semicolon, period, question mark, or exclamation mark, NOT A COMMA. Yes, there are a few acceptable exceptions, but don't use them until you are very clear on when they may be used.
-Read your book, and look carefully for any grammar and punctuation errors. Then walk the dog. Come back and READ IT AGAIN, this time looking for good story flow, consistent story details, and good content to your story. If your character is wearing a blue shirt in chapter one and there was no way he could have changed clothes, make sure he is still wearing a blue shirt in chapter three. Make sure your facts are correct if they are presented as fact and not fiction.
-You may need to read the book several times before you are confident that you have found all errors, or, at least, all errors that matter. And your dog should have been getting plenty of exercise because all this editing will take place over several weeks, possibly even months.
-When you are finally done editing, you aren't. Read the book one more time, BACKWARDS. Yes, backwards. Start at the last paragraph and read it. Then read the next to last, etc. until you arrive at the beginning. Fix your errors.
5. HAVE SOMEONE ELSE READ YOUR WRITING.
If you can't hire a professional editor, draft your husband to read it. If he complains, ask him to read just chapter one. Ask Suzie to read chapter two, and ask Jerry to read chapter three. Promise a friend a free copy of your book if he will read and mark part of it. Print part of your book, pass it around at work, and offer a free lunch to anyone who marks ten or more errors. (This is not a run-on sentence because it is a series of sentences separated by commas.) Email portions to people you know and ask them to flag errors.
Finally, you can hire the professional editor and take satisfaction in the fact that she will find very little to fix in your work. Donna Jaskehttp://www.forhonor.com ©2006 All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Donna Jaske is the editor for her daughter's book, "For Honor," which received five-star reviews. You can find out more information about all the books and read writing articles by Donna and Kat Jaske at
http://www.forhonor.com.
