Topic, Draft And Edit? Check. Now What About A Second Edit?

By Dan Smith

Every single writer out there will have their favourite part of the writing process.

For some, it will be the generating of topics. Ideas of what you can write about for a client based on their messaging. Sitting down with just a short brief and being able to spend time researching the subject, finding out what’s hot, what’s not and where you think you can bring something different to the table can be a very rewarding experience.

For others, the actual creating of the first draft is fantastic. It’s the process that allows you to build on the suggestions you’ve created and truly do what you want to do — write.

And for many more, the editing stage can be extremely rewarding, as you know that you’ve created and finished the piece and are at the stage where you’re essentially adding the final touches to your masterpiece.

But for every writer who thinks these parts are positive, there’ll be just as many who consider them to be negative and who skim over them as they want to get a certain part out of the way.

And for me, that’s editing.

I love the ideas stage and I love writing, but I’ve always found the editing stage to be slightly tedious.

However, over the last few years I’ve had to work on this part of my writing process to ensure I can properly develop and there’s one thing I do now that I believe many other writers could benefit from — a second edit.

Previously, I would finish the first draft, run through an edit and then send the piece off to the client. The problem was, because I didn’t like editing, I’d often miss a few errors. Usually nothing major, perhaps a comma was used inadvertently or a ‘their’ had been used as ‘there’ and obviously hadn’t been picked up by the spell checker, but I think it was largely because as I didn’t like the process, I felt pressure to ensure I got the piece perfect.

Then I realised I could reduce this pressure and onus on me by splitting the process across two separate edits. Sure, it takes me a few minutes longer per piece, but it works, as when I’ve finished writing the piece now, I run through an edit as I would normally and pick up any glaringly obvious mistakes — then I take a break and return to it.

By taking a break — even if it’s something such as starting a new piece — I can come back to the piece afresh, something that means I often pick up on little mistakes I didn’t catch before.

And since I’ve started doing this, I haven’t had a piece go to a client and come back with anything other than the very occasional and very minor typo.

I believe that as writers, we’ve all got our own ways of doing things and for me, doing a second edit with a break in between the two makes a huge difference to my writing.

What little processes do you have to make your life as a freelance writer easier and more enjoyable?

Image: nchenga (Flickr)