Tag Archives: editing

How I Edit My Writing

Read Time:3 Minute, 27 Second

As a writer, editing is essential. It may be difficult for your audience to understand your message without editing. However, the editing depends on the context, and the ways we edit are based on our personal preferences.

Poetry

In poetry, there is wiggle room to edit without using correct grammar. For example, I can write as I talk and make the rhyme, rhythm, and imagery work with one another. My process of writing poetry is similar to journaling. I spill out all my thoughts while trying to make sense of it through analogies, rhyming, etc. This is my ‘word vomit’ approach, so it doesn’t look pretty, but this approach results in more raw and personal poetry.

Another approach when writing poetry is one I learned in my Gr 10 English class. This approach is more ‘bottom-up’ because I first think about the topic I wish to write about, then write down all the keywords I can think of. I also pick a primary setting or analogy. After thinking of all the components, I edit and see how I can incorporate all those ideas into a poem.

I use both the ‘word vomit’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches when writing poetry, but I also use both strategies when writing my academic papers or blog posts.

All My Other Writing

I’ve always been drawn to my ‘word vomit’ method for all my writing. I always tell my friends that I write in “baby English” and then edit and organize my words to make my writing make sense. For essays, I ensure that the structure of my work matches my thesis or main argument. In my blog posts, I also try to ask myself if what I am writing is relevant to the topic I wish to discuss. For these types of writing, spend more time looking at more grammar errors than poetry because there is an expectation of making sure the work looks professional.

In my blog NimrasCanvas, I try to look for grammatical errors. I also use Grammarly to double-check my work. However, I also wish to keep my blog casual and straightforward, so I don’t change words or my tone as much as I do for academic essays and research papers.

What We Require While Editing

Editing requires focus, but it also requires feedback. For example, in our peer reviews for this class, we provided feedback to our peers on their websites. This feedback is important because sometimes we get so caught up in our work that we overlook errors and other ideas we could add. From my feedback, I realized I could add more pictures to my blog and change my font, so it helped me develop my blog better.

While having others help us with editing is productive, we also need to balance our editing time. Sometimes I get frustrated in a school setting because I don’t have enough time to edit my work. I will sometimes keep receiving feedback without having enough time to implement it. I believe setting aside extra time for editing makes for excellent writing.

Another helpful idea is to limit your distractions. As a procrastinator, this is hard for me to do. I think all students can relate to this. We sometimes want to do our thing and not be bombarded with essays and assignments. While we technically can write an essay in one day, to receive good marks, we need a few days to edit it before submitting it. I am a hypocrite as I type this because I always leave essays to the last minute. However, I hope to manage my time to have enough energy to focus and edit my work entirely.

Everyone’s editing process is unique to them and how they learn. Some people may type with correct grammar instantly, while others need a few tries to get it right. Editing errors can make you look unprofessional and lazy on a blog or business platform. However, I also believe that they make us human. We should care for our writing and avoid errors when we see them, but we shouldn’t edit ourselves out in the editing process.

Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %

The post How I Edit My Writing first appeared on NimrasCanvas.