Editing and Proofreading
Most good writers produce terrible first drafts. Ernest Hemingway used graphic language we can’t print here to describe his opinion of the quality of first drafts!
It’s tempting to rush straight to the final draft. But skipping the important step of editing, even in an email or prayer letter, could result in mistakes you don’t want people to read, or if bad enough, may mean your writing isn’t read at all.
Editing your first draft means more than just checking for grammatical and spelling errors, it includes checking the content too.
Here are some things to look for when you check through your first draft:
- Does it all make sense?
- Does everything relate back to the main point?
- Is your writing encouraging and informative, or does it lecture?
- Are words, phrases, or ideas unnecessarily repeated?
- Does it start and finish well?
- Has it kept the audience in mind?
Leaving your work a day or more is a useful tip too. This, of course, means that you need to leave time before your deadline. Reading your work out loud helps you find the weak points. Best of all, find someone who will give you objective feedback—your writing and your readers will benefit greatly. 