The Best Editing

Editing is a tricky thing because it is so organic. Most decisions in editing are judgment calls, which means that the answer is whatever feels right. The problem is that what feels right changes all the time.

When I finish writing something, I can't even proofread it well. My mind knows what I wrote, so it glosses over large parts of text, thus I can't filter the words for typos. Editing, which is a lot more complicated than proofing, is a lot more difficult to do.

However, whenever I read somebody else's writing, I am fairly consistent in how I edit. The difference is that I have no idea what I'm going to read next. When I read something for the first time, I am going off of gut reactions and thorough filtering. When I read my own work, I am distracted because I know what I wrote and what I intended to write.

However, there is a catch. The older a piece of writing gets, the more I forget about it. After a year or two, I may have forgotten I even wrote it. When I stumble across it, it is completely alien to me and I read it as such.

Some of the best self-editing I have ever done was on pieces that were several months old. It was a fresh start for me and none of my personal thoughts or feelings interrupted my editing process. However, some of the best self-editing I have ever done was on a piece that I had just finished writing. And considering everything I have just said, that should be impossible.

There was a catch, though. When I was editing the piece I had just written, I had my best editor with me to bounce ideas off of and to give me suggestions. That second voice was absolutely necessary. I was so close to my work (still trying to shape the wet clay) that I couldn't trust myself to know when an idea was right or not. So although I was doing the majority of the work, I could never have done it without help.

Both of these methods are great for editing, but have different nuances in use. If you are on a deadline, you don't have the time to wait and come back to a piece. If you rely on another editor to help you, you are at the mercy of their schedule and ability. And if you are on a deadline and don't have an editor to help you, you have just entered ScrewedTown. Population: you.