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What tips do you have when you edit your own work?
As a writer, one of the jobs we have is proofreading and editing our work. This can sometimes be fairly simple or could be a little more complex depending on the kind of work completed,
As a writer, when you proofread and self-edit your work, what tips do you have to help you? Are there any tips you could give to help others?
After writing I wait for some time to pass before I edit my work, sometimes I even wait for days to pass. This will give me a fresher perspective of my work and ideas on how I can edit it better.
What I do is to first take a break to clear my mind and I read aloud to help me detect wrong phrasing. lastly, I check for the writing style and tone as well. These steps work pretty well.
I work as a content writer, and I have nearly five years of experience in this field. Despite this, I still consider myself a work in progress and believe that there is always room for improvement. My work primarily involves creating engaging and informative content. This includes short and long articles. After completing a task, especially when the deadline is not looming, I find it vital to take a day off to relax and recharge. This period of rest is not just a break, but a rejuvenating experience that allows me to return with a fresh perspective when I review my work.
Once I feel rejuvenated, I proofread. I carefully go through my work to identify areas that need improvement and make necessary edits. This stage often involves rephrasing sentences, correcting punctuation and grammar errors, and so on. I strongly believe that proofreading is a task best approached with a clear and alert mind. Therefore, I avoid proofreading when I am feeling dog-tired, as I am more likely to overlook mistakes in that manner. By following this proofreading process, I can submit work that meets the required standards of my client.
I don't edit immediately after writing. I wait for some time to pass so that I can have a fresher perspective of my work.
I figured out that when I am rushing to edit immediately after writing I don't get to see some mistakes that should be corrected.
When editing, I really pay attention to the flow of the writing. That is why I would love people with different accents to read the work out for my hearing. Another thing I look out for is redundancy. When you are writing, you might end up using similar words close to each other. I make sure to pay attendance to catch any redundancy. And then, I check the phrasing of the work. Are there sentences that could better be restructured? Finally, I look at the outline to check if the sections and paragraphs link up well.
After I complete my writing, I let it gather dust for a couple of days and then go back to read with a critique's eyes. I edit the article, sometimes even end up rewriting the entire article. I return to after after a couple of days and again edit it. Once I have done human editing, I also use AI tools to check the article.
When I edit my writing work it is sometime later, that is, when I realize that I made a mistake in something or needed to provide more information about the topic I was talking about, for example, I write an article, then I learn more about the topic, I can then edit the article sometime later and add more content to the work previously done.
I think this is a good way to edit your content, make it evolve, and improve it.
When I want to edit my own work, I make sure to take a break to clear my mind and change my environment for a fresh perspective. Then, next, read my work aloud so that I can catch awkward phrasing. I don't forget to use the grammar and spell-checking tools. Coupled with these tools, you also need to manually read your work. Additionally, it’s also very important to get feedback from trusted beta readers or fellow writers to get a perfect result.
I make sure to be ruthless by cutting scenes or lines that aren't working, even if I love them. I also use editing tools to enhance the process. Trust me, it's been a seamless experience.
One biggest tip I have is to read, read and READ back your work before submitting it. Just by reading it back you’ll see any grammatical errors, or parts that don’t make sense so these can be corrected now rather than later or aftermath.
