You can do better! Yes, I'm talking to YOU! You're a writer, right? Even if you've yet to start plucking out your book, if you blog, write a newsletter, even pen long emails, you are a writer. As such, you owe it to yourself...and your audience to crank out your very best. The best way to ensure that you do this is by editing. You might not need to read this, but I'll bet you a hundred rupees that some of your writer friends do. Am I right? As people who communicate via the written word, it behooves us to get as happy about editing and re-writing as we do about writing. As an editor and writing coach, I regularly canoodle with writers and aspiring authors. Come close, let me tell you about one of the struggles that a lot of emerging writers have: they hate to edit their work. Well, that might be a bit harsh. In any event, they tend to neglect self-editing. Too many writers simply do not give proper time and attention to editing their work. Two professors of mine-—one in college, the other in law school—bellowed to the class, "There's no such thing as writing, there's only re-writing!" Over the years, I discovered this to be true. Good writing requires a massive amount of rewriting. Think of your first draft as vomit. What do you do after you vomit? You clean that mess up, right? Don't be lazy, clean up your renderings. Note to the wannabe author, the less you edit, the more your editing cost. Ask my clients, they'll tell you. I'm an editor with nearly fifteen years in the business, and I edit, edit, and edit some more. And guess what, after I've pushed "send" I still find typos in my newsletter. Ugh! But I'll tell you this, I've put in hours of writing, editing and re-writing so I forgive myself. After all, I'm human. Our readers will tolerate a typo here and there. But a post riddled with errors will cause your reader to distrust the content. How to Self-Edit Like a Boss:
Writing is a craft. The more you do it, the, uh, craftier you get. You know what I mean, if you'd like to write with strength, power and conviction then write, edit and rewrite often.
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