The Importance of Editing By Gloria Oren
I am excited to introduce you to today's guest author, Gloria Oren. Gloria is going to speak on a subject that we as writers all need to keep at the forefront of our minds; the importance of editing. I have to admit, this is one area I need to spend even more time on and I want to thank Gloria for her words of wisdom on this topic.
Before we get to her post, I wanted to let everyone know that my new video tips for authors is out: Publish Your Blog To Kindle. If you are a subscriber to my free video newsletter, you already received the e-mail with the video link. If you would like to sign up to watch this video for free, just visit my video tips newsletter page. I'll even give you instant access to over 45 minutes of other free video tips as my way of thanking you for signing up.
Now, on to Gloria's post...
The Importance of Editing
By Gloria Oren
No first draft is publication ready. No matter how new or how experienced the writer is, a written piece requires editing.
Why is editing so important? First of all when a reader reads your piece for the first time it is through the piece of writing that the reader forms an opinion of you. This may be likened to the first impression when meeting someone face-to-face. You, as a writer, want to make a good impression. You don't want typos that could easily have been fixed. You don't want spelling or grammar errors either. But editing is not only searching for the small obvious errors; editing your written work is the heart and soul of your writing. What you do want is a clean, error-free piece of writing to present to your readers.
Another reason to edit your written work before posting to a blog, let's say, is to show courtesy toward the reader who will perhaps give you feedback on a well-written, clean presentation of your article. When you write something you know what you want to say, but will the reader get your exact message? If you ever expect to receive feedback from readers, you had better put in the effort to edit the piece so that your message is understood by the reader as you want it to be understood. That is the true essence of editing a piece and that is why it is so important.
Thirdly, no one is perfect, not even the most experienced writer. Not even he or she can afford to just write up a first draft and post it. Typos happen, especially when typing quickly, and not always are they noticed at the time of typing. Many things are caught later when reading it through carefully with an editor's eye. Sometimes you misplace scenes, or the chronological line gets out of whack in the first draft, but this becomes evident in the editing stage. The reader may think I'm not going to spend my time reading or answering this writer anymore when I don't get what he's saying or when I feel the inattention evident by so many errors in the writing itself. Do you as a writer want that? I don't. I'd rather scrutinize my writing as best I could before posting than not do it. And yes, even with editing, sometimes typos sneak into the writing. In those cases, which shouldn't occur, but do, let's all try to be a bit forgiving and not rush to make the wrong impression right off the bat. After all we're all humans, and humans err from time to time.
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By Gloria Oren, author, book reviewer, and freelance editor. Gloria blogs at http://gloriascorner.com and maintains a Web site at http://gloriaoren.com. She's currently working on an autobiographical memoir. Her personal experience article, "A Blessing in Disguise," was published in the Thin Thread Special Edition – Recovery and Survival this past September.
Before we get to her post, I wanted to let everyone know that my new video tips for authors is out: Publish Your Blog To Kindle. If you are a subscriber to my free video newsletter, you already received the e-mail with the video link. If you would like to sign up to watch this video for free, just visit my video tips newsletter page. I'll even give you instant access to over 45 minutes of other free video tips as my way of thanking you for signing up.
Now, on to Gloria's post...
The Importance of Editing
By Gloria Oren
No first draft is publication ready. No matter how new or how experienced the writer is, a written piece requires editing.
Why is editing so important? First of all when a reader reads your piece for the first time it is through the piece of writing that the reader forms an opinion of you. This may be likened to the first impression when meeting someone face-to-face. You, as a writer, want to make a good impression. You don't want typos that could easily have been fixed. You don't want spelling or grammar errors either. But editing is not only searching for the small obvious errors; editing your written work is the heart and soul of your writing. What you do want is a clean, error-free piece of writing to present to your readers.
Another reason to edit your written work before posting to a blog, let's say, is to show courtesy toward the reader who will perhaps give you feedback on a well-written, clean presentation of your article. When you write something you know what you want to say, but will the reader get your exact message? If you ever expect to receive feedback from readers, you had better put in the effort to edit the piece so that your message is understood by the reader as you want it to be understood. That is the true essence of editing a piece and that is why it is so important.
Thirdly, no one is perfect, not even the most experienced writer. Not even he or she can afford to just write up a first draft and post it. Typos happen, especially when typing quickly, and not always are they noticed at the time of typing. Many things are caught later when reading it through carefully with an editor's eye. Sometimes you misplace scenes, or the chronological line gets out of whack in the first draft, but this becomes evident in the editing stage. The reader may think I'm not going to spend my time reading or answering this writer anymore when I don't get what he's saying or when I feel the inattention evident by so many errors in the writing itself. Do you as a writer want that? I don't. I'd rather scrutinize my writing as best I could before posting than not do it. And yes, even with editing, sometimes typos sneak into the writing. In those cases, which shouldn't occur, but do, let's all try to be a bit forgiving and not rush to make the wrong impression right off the bat. After all we're all humans, and humans err from time to time.
***********
By Gloria Oren, author, book reviewer, and freelance editor. Gloria blogs at http://gloriascorner.com and maintains a Web site at http://gloriaoren.com. She's currently working on an autobiographical memoir. Her personal experience article, "A Blessing in Disguise," was published in the Thin Thread Special Edition – Recovery and Survival this past September.
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