Writer, Edit Yourself: Self-Editing in 4 Steps

“Write drunk, edit sober.”

The famed writing advice (no, Hemingway didn’t actually say it) shouldn’t be taken literally. It means you shouldn’t let inhibitions stop you from writing. However, when it’s time to edit, you should look at your work with a critical eye.

For some people, it can be difficult to approach their work with objectivity. They’re too close to it. Sometimes, they’ve spent hours or days working on something, and they can’t take a metaphorical step back.

Yet, what they’ve written needs editing, and there might not be an editor available. They’re going to have to self-edit. Self-editing is a critical skill. Read on to learn how you can do it yourself to create more polished content, from emails to reports.

Step 1: Take a Break

You might not be objective enough to edit your own work. There’s good news, though — you can gain objectivity.

Physically separate yourself from what you’ve written. When you’re done writing, get as far away as you can from the screen. That might mean leaving the room or wherever it is you’re writing. Can’t leave? Turn your back on the screen and do something else, like read.

How long should your break be? That depends on how time-sensitive the content is. If you wrote an email that needs to go out this afternoon, take 15–20 minutes. The less time-sensitive the content is, the longer break you can take.

Step 2: Role Play

In this next step, you’re going to engage in some role playing. Pretend you’ve never seen the content before. It’s brand new to you.

When you look at something for the first time, you’ll be able to catch mistakes or spot sections that don’t quite flow.

Step 3: Make a List, Check It Twice

What should you look for when you’re self-editing? There are two things you should look at first:

· Spelling mistakes: It’s easy to spot these — your word processing program probably underlines them in red.

· Grammar mistakes: Again, your word processing program probably underlines them in red, although sometimes they’re not errors as much as the word processing program doesn’t agree with your choice. Take these with a grain of salt.

Once you’ve corrected spelling and grammar mistakes, it’s time to edit more thoroughly. Here’s what to look for:

· Flow: “Flow” in writing refers to how ideas logically follow one another. Read through and ask yourself, “Does this make sense? Does it make sense for Idea A to come before Idea B?”

· Conciseness: Are you using the fewest possible words to communicate your idea so it still makes sense? Read over your sentences with an eye to the length. Long sentences aren’t inherently bad, but you don’t want to lose the reader’s attention. If you can write something in a more concise way, do it.

· Consistency: Are you spelling or writing words in a consistent way? For example, if you’re using bullet points, are you going to add punctuation at the end of each point? If you’re writing out numbers one through ten and writing digits 10 and beyond, check to ensure you’re doing that throughout.

· Follow a style guide: If you’re writing something for work, there’s a chance that your organization has a style guide. A style guide is a set of standards for writing to ensure consistency (see above). You want to be certain that if you’re writing as a representative of your organization, your content follows the organization’s rules.

· Look out for text walls: No one wants to see a page (or even an email) without a single paragraph break. Think about where you can insert bullet points or at least paragraph breaks.

· Citations: Did you add supporting statistics? Great. Did you cite those sources? Even better. Are your sources reliable and accurate? Perfect.

Step 4: Repeat as Necessary

The first round of edits might not have gotten the job done. There’s a distinct possibility you might have missed something (or several things) the first time around. Go over the content again until you’ve addressed every one of these check points.

Why Self-Editing Matters

It’s tempting to say, “What I wrote isn’t that long. It doesn’t need that much care and attention.” That’s where you’re wrong. Even if it’s as short as a social media post, you want it to be polished. You don’t want your readers to think you’re sloppy or careless. When that happens, they stop reading, and your reputation (or your brand’s) suffers.

Editing your own work doesn’t sound like fun. It’s crucial, though. People judge you when you make typos or grammatical errors, especially if they don’t know you. Let your writing make a good first impression.