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Since becoming a magazine editor, I tend to read a bit more critically, both online and print publications. It has affected the way I look at my own work as well. I'm much more aware of the "issues" in my work, and many of them need to be removed before I make an article available for public consumption. This blog isn't necessarily a lesson in editing. It's just a few suggestions that will help you tighten up your copy and make it more reader friendly.

1. Grammar and Spelling
This seems like a given with editing, but the most common problems you'll see in online copy are spelling errors and typos, and they generally serve as a turn-off to readers. While every decent word processing program has a spell check and grammar check function, don't depend solely on them. They don't catch everything.

2. Organize
Be sure to have your work organized in a way that makes sense. Your audience should not have to make an effort to piece your work together. Subheadings are not always necessary, espcially for shorter works, but they can be helpful and are asthetically pleasing in the way they break up the text.

3. Be concise
Unless it's a necessary contribution to your article, take it out. Those juicy little facts that sound good when you are writing will stand out as irrelevant when you read through it again. Say what you need to say in the simplest way possible. More words don't make you a better writer.

4. Don't be redundant
Those sentences and phrases that may seem like "clarifying" to us will read like repetition to an audience. When you come across these items, take them out. This is also true of "favorite words" that tend to show up in our work. For instance, I was having a love affair with the word "however" for a long time and would have to go through articles to remove it.

These are just a few things that will make your writing read more smoothly. Anyone who has anything to add is welcome to do so.

Posted in Musings of a Wordsmith | | | | 399 reads