How do you edit your own writing?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Sanjay Srikonda has <<...a question for the TWs out there who are also
tasked with editing their own writing.  I've attempted to pass what I write
by SMEs and the like to at least to have a second set of eyes, but
oftentimes, beyond the
technical corrections, I don't often get any feedback into the style or
grammar, even spelling (homonym use).>>

It's pretty much impossible to edit yourself in terms of grammar or style,
since other than obvious errors, you're (by definition) writing in a way
that you find comfortable; the act of editing involves stumbling over what's
uncomfortable, figuring out why that's the case, and fixing it. (See my sig
line, for example.) A good editor can edit someone else's work because
they're not living inside that person's head, and thus don't have the same
level of comfort with the text: they have a different writing style,
different background knowledge, and a different set of assumptions than the
author. Put this all together and it provides a clue as to how to edit your
own writing: set it aside for a few days, then return to it. By then, your
mental state will have changed sufficiently that you approach the document
almost as if you're another person, and that distance will let you see

things you'd never have seen the first time. Timing varies, but I personally
find that I can't edit my own writing sooner than a week after I've written
something, and I plan to include this much time in my schedule.

You should also check the text rigorously for accuracy. Rather than reading
an assertion and saying "yeah, that's pretty much how I remember it",
actually take the time to test that assertion. This should be possible even
with your own writing, and particularly so if you've let some time go by so
you can confirm whether the writing actually says what you thought it said.

But all these tricks still won't reveal your personal blind spots; for that,
you really do need another person, whether an editor or a writer colleague.
If you don't have any such person in your organisation (rare), contact your
colleagues (e.g., at STC meetings) and try to set up a peer review group,
with the goal of helping each other identify stylistic problems. Think of
this as a "writer's group"!

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca 

"As an editor, I sometimes describe my job as being a 'professional idiot'.
The 'professional' part is easy: I'm good at what I do, and get paid to do
it (unlike an amateur idiot, about which those who know me will nod
knowingly). The idiot part is a bit more complicated: I do my best to
misunderstand any writing, even something that the reader might figure out
after a bit of work--but then I figure out why the misunderstanding occurred
and fix it so that nobody else will ever trip over it."--Geoff Hart

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