When I’m editing, I might go through looking just at active verbs, then go through a second time looking at sentence length and transitions, then a third time, etc.
It sounds boring, and it is, but editing is like finishing a fine piece of furniture. Several thin coats is always better than one thick coat. The last coat is proofreading.
There are four ways to keep your brain from skipping over your mistakes when proofreading:
- Read your work aloud. When you have to pronounce all the words, you will spot both omissions and commissions.
- Have a proofreading buddy who reads your work while you read theirs.
- Put the work aside for a few hours and proofread it fresh.
- Read one line at a time, but from the end to the beginning. This breaks the flow and prevents your brain from leaping to understanding by masking problems with the words.
- Do I tell my reader my purpose in the first paragraph?
- Does the conclusion reinforce my main idea?
- Have I captured the reader’s interest early?
- Does this say what I want it to say?
- Have I checked spelling, punctuation and word usage?
- Does it read well aloud? Does it look good on the page?
- Is it easy on the reader’s eyes?
- Have I varied the length of sentences and paragraphs?
- Did I use as few words as possible to send my message?
- Are my ideas simply stated and presented clearly and logically?
- Will the reader have the reaction I want?
- Does this sound like me?
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