While I knew from a relatively young age I wanted to pursue English in post-secondary school, the notion of being a writer was not the initial plan. My dream was to be an editor, and while that may not be my designated title in the corporate realm at present, I’m actually doing more editing than ever before courtesy of my tutoring business. I have a handful of students whom I meet with weekly and engage in an actual structured lesson, and I also have a handful of clients who ask me to edit their completed work and nothing more.
I’m not a certified or professional editor, but I do like to think I’ve learned a few tricks over the years that help me to have a more thorough eye. I thought I would share my tips with you in case anyone out there is looking to improve their editing skills.
When it comes to self-editing, I do not advise going to edit your completed work as soon as you finish it. Rather, take a break for about an hour or so, then come back to it to edit. Sometimes you simply need an eye refresher to ensure you’re catching all elements requiring editing.
If I am editing someone else’s work, I like to read through the work itself at least twice, again with a break in between editing sessions. After I’ve gone through the material twice, I like to copy and paste the content into a blank document and then use Grammarly or some other sort of editing tool to ensure I didn’t miss anything.
Some other random strategies I rely on include changing the font itself and enlarging it. Sometimes a change in how the words appear on the page is all you need to catch something you initially missed.
How do you edit?
Photo by Raymond Petrik on Unsplash
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