Is Editing Important?
As an Editor, I have to say, “No, it’s not important. It’s absolutely VITAL!”
Please. For the sake of your writing, your readers and any future reputation you wish to gain, please, please, PLEASE edit your work.
Send it out to an editor if you can, especially if it’s something huge, like a novel or dissertation. I’ve edited a number of novels and a few dissertations for students and though the work hasn’t won any Pulitzer Prizes, most of my clients tell me their work was improved by my editing and their work is improving by listening to advice – not just mine, I don’t know everything.
Truth be told, I think writing is a fluid medium and I’m always learning.
For blogs etc, if you can’t edit, at least re-read before you hit ‘POST’. If you have a friend you can get to look over your work, so much the better, even if they’re at the same level of expertise as yourself, a fresh pair of eyes can often spot typos, errors. Even the tiniest of tweaks and improvements can help make your work stand out – and stand out for the right reason.
With novel writers I advise work be put aside for at least a month and go back to it with those fresh eyes I mentioned earlier. That’s not possible or practical with blog posts such as Steemit, however. That’s why I advise re-reading your work.
Finish the post, but instead of sending it out onto the Steemit platform naked and vulnerable, give your work as much advantage as you possibly can. Clothe it, dress it up nicely and give it a good armour-plate to help it stand up for itself.
Grab a coffee, find the pictures you need and take a little time over choosing the right ones. When you’ve put the pictures in the right places, re-read your post. Even the time it took to make that coffee can give your brain a pause for thought so it doesn’t go back over the work thinking, ‘Yeah, yeah, I wrote this so it has to be perfect…’ Trust me, every brain does that, you have to train it. The coffee can help too, a little bit of caffeine to boost those brain cells…
When all is said and done, typos, mistakes and general sloppiness won’t kill you, but it won’t do you any favours either.
The last thing a writer needs is for their audience to skim over their work because they can’t cope with the typos, the grammatical errors. Not every reader will be so picky, but can you afford to alienate even one? Especially if that ‘one’ is someone you’d rather was following you than ignoring you?
Thanks for reading.
