WRITING

A Simple Editing Process

It doesn’t have to be painful.

A page of typed text marked with a red pen. Image from Pixabay.

I have said before that the draft writing process involves three steps: writing the basic ideas, organizing the ideas, and editing.

Editing has three steps, too: proofreading, rearranging, and line editing. Do them in that order.

Proofread first.

Proofreading means ensuring that the grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your article, in that order, are all correct. These are the most basic aspects of writing. Grammar is a basic aspect of language itself. If you are an adult native English speaker who still makes grammar errors while writing in English, you should take a class in English grammar and learn how to write and speak English correctly. A formal community college class is the best option because then your teacher will look over your work and grade you. You’ll see the errors you’re making, and you’ll be taught how to correct them.

Learn English basics from a human.

I strongly recommend educating yourself well enough in English basics to proofread mostly without needing grammar-checking or spell-checking software. Many writers recommend Grammarly. My husband uses it. I won’t use it because I’ve seen it miss mistakes that I’ve caught. If my brain is better than the software, I’ll stick with my brain. If your brain is not better than the software, you should use the software and ask someone to proofread the article as a back-up.

Another reason to learn the basics from a human teacher instead of from grammar-checking software is because, when you study with a human teacher, you think in an attitude of learning. When you use grammar software, you think in an attitude of getting a task done quickly so that you can move to the next task. It’s more a productivity tool than a learning tool. You aren’t interested in taking careful notes and learning what the grammar software can teach you about avoiding the same writing mistakes you make day after day after day. You just want to get your story fit to publish.

Despite my dislike of grammar software, those little red underscores in Word are a godsend! They have saved my butt many times because I tend to read what I expect to see, and I would miss many typos if I didn’t have the red…