I wrote an essay the other day about the city I live in. It's filled with metaphors, sarcasm and over the top analogies; you might even have a chuckle halfway through reading it (sometimes I like to let loose with my writing). It's designed to give people the impression of what life is like around these parts.

Anyway, I wrote it in one night. I set it aside till the next morning to give it a once over. I added some things to it, took some things out. I set it aside for another few hours to go over it once more––found a few more things to change. Just when I though it was ready, I emailed it to my husband to look it over. He looked it over and found a few errors; sentences that didn't make sense, word choice that might have been confusing and subject/verb agreement.

When he pointed those things out to me, I saw the errors right away. I couldn’t believe that I had made some of those mistakes. However, he wrote a formal letter to someone last week and I quickly found his errors.

When I submit articles to a magazine, I hire an editor to go over my piece. She doesn't usually do a lot of changes, but she makes it flow. She says, "Never quiet the writer's voice."

What's the rule for self-editing, or is it even possible?

Yes, I think self-editing is very possible.  As you found, though, it's not as easy as setting aside and then giving it the once over, but it is possible.

This is what I do, others have a different tact, but it's whatever works, right?  For short pieces, I set aside for a day or two, maybe for a week, and for long pieces, the set-aside time is about six weeks, give or take.  I  make a printout, using a different font and spacing than I wrote the thing in.  The idea is to give myself as much distance as possible, because I need objectivity.  Then I read it out loud, in a slow, low monotone.  No inflections, because inflections cause me to look forward and speed up the reading.  Slow focusses on each and every word.  If I find a bobble, I put a red dot there and keep going. 

By doing this, I also get a better feel for the thing as a whole.  I can see that the story really begins down there, not where I did begin.  That characters can be combined, well, all sorts of things.  It's as if my ears heard things that my eyes were blind to--I can't explain it, but this low, slow read aloud thing is pecularly effective for me.  I make those changes, the big ones, not worrying about the punctuation or the "Their,there,they're" stuff.

Depending, I may let it rest and do the re-read thing, but the next step is the whole paragraph-sentence dance.  Is this clear or muddy?  Is this the best metaphor/description/whatever?  Is this as funny/sad/whatever as it can be?  Jeez, what happened to the cup that she was holding?--that sorta stuff.

The next level is down to the words.  Can I get rid of any was, were, am, is, are, but, the, that, or any of the small word strings?  "When Al was walking to the store..." to "As Al walked, the store..."  I don't know what those really are, but I think of them as small word strings--lots of little words when a few better words would do, well, better . 

It's all subjective, it's really all about what feels right to you, and then putting in the work so others see it, too.  Or their version of what you see, which is really all reading is. 

There are those who can send out first drafts and get back acceptance slips, but we don't invite them to parties and we absolutely never speak to them--Ha!  No, actually, I think they are geniuses and admire them hugely; it's a true gift and talent.

Anyway, I hope this was of some help.  Oh, and your way of giving the work to a trusted reader is a great idea, too.  After you gave it to your husband for the go-over, and he pointed out some things, did you find even more things?  After all my jumping through hoops stuff, I give it to my writing group, and darned if they don't find things, too.  And then I find more things I missed while doing the (yet another) edit.  It's so unfair!  But it seems to be the way of it, so there you go. 

Hi Brena,

I usually go over my magazine articles four times the same day that I write them.  Each time, I read slowly and look at each word for spelling and correct usage.  I make any necessary corrections and then, when I'm happy with it, I lay it down.  The next day, I go over it again, for the fifth time .  If I'm still happy with it, I send it in to the magazine.

If I'm not happy with it, I'll rewrite it and start checking it again.  The important thing is to go slowly.  When you get in a hurry or anxious, you make mistakes or overlook things.

Just curious, what does your editor charge?  Does she make that much of a difference from what you give her and what she returns back to you as the finished product?  I have always edited my own work and just assumed that everyone else did too.

Yes, self-editing is possible--hiring an editor to fix mistakes isn't necessary.  This is just a matter of learning how to proofread.  The first thing to do is to set the piece aside for at least a few days.  The reason you're not spotting the mistakes is because you just wrote it and it's still too fresh in your mind.  I can think of time and time again where I proofread something immediately after writing it and then did it a few days later and found tons of embarrassing mistakes I'd missed during the initial reading.  Because I was familiar with the material, I was reading what I expected to see, not what was really there.  When I'm not familiar with the material--as you discovered with someone else's letter--mistakes stand out like the proverbial sore thumb.

After you set it aside for a few days, then read it aloud at least three times.  Reading aloud will tell you right away when something doesn't sound right--you'll practically trip over it.  The first pass will catch most of the major mistakes.  The second two passes will pick up the harder to find problems (omitted words; wrong words).

Try the book Powerful Proofreading Skills for specific techniques on finding problem areas.  I was doing technical writing and didn't have anyone to edit and catch my mistakes.  This book taught me how to do it.

Hi Brena,

I haven't smoked in over twenty years, but when I did, I would tap the filter on a solid surface to pack the tobacco in the cigarette.  This allowed for the slow, even burn of the tobacco without hot spots along the cigarette.  Some people would tap a new package of cigarettes before they opened it.  In all of my years of smoking however, never once did I tap the filter of my cigarette on the carton.  The carton is the thin cardboard container that holds ten packages or packs of cigarettes, i.e. a carton of cigarettes.

Back in the movies of the 1940s, the ladies would usually tap their cigarettes on a metal cigarette case.  Since the cigarettes then did not have filters, the tobacco was packed so that it did not end up in the mouth.  Another way to get around this loose tobacco was to use a cigarette holder.  After a little reflecting, I think that I do remember a lady who did tap her cigarette on the pack itself. 

Thanks for showing us the before and after.  Her paraphrasing does seem to help improve the writing.

There hasn't been much action on this self-editing thread lately, but I'd like to add something I read about it somewhere.  This has more to do with catching typos and other errors, than real editing.  What you do is take each page and read it backwards, either one word at a time or one line at a time.  That way you're concentrating on each word instead of just reading what you wrote.

 

I became acquainted with a freelance editor who charges one dollar per manuscript page.  He will give you a free sample of his work.  He was a great help to me, and in return I did publicity for him when he came to town to make a presentation.  He says most editors, not proof readers, charge two dollars per page.  If you're interested, I can send you his contact information.

Hi Brena,                                                                                                           Sure, self-editing is very possible if you have some good guides to lead the way. Among the best I know, these old chestnuts still help better than most: Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, William Zinsser's On Writing Well: A Guide to Writing Non-fiction (now in its 30th anniversary edition),  and Diana  Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual. They'll give you the rules, the rationale, and the confidence to edit your own work.                                All the best,                                                                                                   tdkerst