@jaredwilli
Latest posts by jaredwilli (see all)
- Stop Self-Editing While You Write And Just Write - November 1, 2010
- Enable Debugging And Logging For Live Site Usage - October 24, 2010
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Alright, now I’m in no way a perfect writer, and I wouldn’t even go so far as to say I know how to talk about this topic well. I’m not a copywriter, nor do I write for a living. What I can say though is that I have gone from a self-editing maniac, to a 1-2 times a post self-editor.
Two years ago, back when I first started blogging on my design site, Tweeaks.com, I was a frequent reader of Copyblogger. If you’ve never heard of it, then go check it out because there’s so much good content on that site it will suck you in and you’ll be a better blogger in no time I’m sure.
Anyways, I read a post on how to stop self-editing way back when it was first posted in 2009, and I even commented on it too. The author, Sean D’Souza, stated at the end of the post how they only self-edited the post once, and it was a minor edit. If you were to find my comment you’d see how I said something like, “I self-edited this comment over 10 times already!”
Well, needless to say, I’ve come a long way since then. That post is well worth reading if you are like how I used to be, and can’t write a sentence without constantly self-editing and re-writing it over and over again trying to make it look “perfect”. I know what it’s like, and it can be very very frustrating when you’re trying to just write up something real quick, and it just doesn’t come out right, and you have to keep fixing things.
Why can’t you write without self-editing?
The reason you, and why I used to do it, may have something to do with what D’Souza says in his post:
Competency is a state of mind you reach when you’ve made enough mistakes that your brain can now move on.
And why not right? Sounds good, and seems to be somewhat reasonable to think that’s why we self-edit our-selves all the time. Whether that’s the cause for our self-editing or not, I don’t know, I’m not a brain surgeon either, on top of not being a professional writer. But what I do know for sure, is that as D’Souza states in his post, you do begin to stop self-editing after a period of time spent writing.
I’ve written at least 100-200 blog posts on my sites since I read that post, and posted my comment which I self-edited over 10 times in writing. I’d say that it wasn’t until about the 20-30th post I wrote, did I begin to notice that I wasn’t self-editing nearly as much anymore.
It didn’t just go away over night
I had to continuously write and write, and eventually I realized I could write an entire post without the need to self-edit at all, and that includes necessary formatting and HTML coding, too. I don’t write every post flawlessly by any means. But I’m not a professional writer as I pointed out already. I don’t write blog posts or anything else like that nearly as much as I write code. I’m a web developer, not an author. I write < stuff > <?php function() { echo ‘like this’; } ?> more than anything else. So to think that I was finally able to get to a point that I no longer needed to self-edit my blog posts, it’s just awesome.
And so can you
You don’t have to be a professional writer, who gets paid to sit at a computer all day just cranking out line after line of perfectly worded grammar and delicious english, full of fresh wit and written with little linguistic hershey kisses.
You just have to keep writing. You’ll eventually be able to write like a typo was frightened by just the mere sight of your right hand, reaching for the Backspace key to delete me.
If you want to stop self-editing yourself, you need to keep forcing yourself to keep self-editing, until you no longer need to keep doing it.
I’ll be honest, and I won’t say I self-edited this post only once. It was probably around 3-5 times total. Including all HTML which was hand-coded while writing the post too.
I’d say that’s pretty damn good considering I know nothing about how to talk about this type of thing, and most, almost all, of my blog posts have something to do with code, and how to do something involving code. Don’t you agree?
I think it’s just a matter of attitude towards it.
Personally, when I write a blog post for example, I write all that’s in my mind on the first go, without worrying too much about how words are coming out like.
Then, I edit what I wrote and put it in a more “ordered” way (not dramatic changes, but some, yeah).
I leave the post sitting for at least a day, and I get back to it a second time, I read it again and edit a final time, so that’s about two in total.
This kind of approach always worked for me so far.
About comments, I usually don’t even re-edit them, I just write and go, admitting I am focused enough. Of course if people are yelling around me it might take some more time to get things done properly.
Gabriele Maidecchi recently posted..6 quick ways to boost your blog traffic and some weird thoughts about them
Writing writing writing – it’s just a fantastic way to flex your creative muscles and really buff up in that regard!
I do what Gabriele does as well – will write first and edit second. It does get easier as the decades pass…
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Twitter: lavenderuses
Hi Jared
Interesting take on a well-discussed topic. I think you techies are in the realm of genius as I am a complete technophobe lol But I do love writing. I tend to write my post, leave it for a day and then go back and edit before publishing.
Must admit I do enjoy reading well written posts as opposed to those full of grammatical errors! Thanks for sharing
Patricia Perth Australia
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Twitter: jaredwilli
I understand and agree on your method of writing first and editing after. It’s a reasonable way to do things too.
My thing is, I’m just too damn busy to spend time writing, and then time editing. So if i can just cut out having to do one of those things, which means not editing since need to write to edit, I will. I just don’t have the time to waste editing what i write. I dont even know how i have the time to ever write for that matter. I have far too many things going on, at all times. Time is a precious thing to me. With the 6 sites I develop, design, author, and maintain, not including the extra work that is involved with running WPHonors either, or my full-time job which is how I get paid. It’s just not feasible to allocate time to self-edit my posts, period.
I have so much going on, I’d compare it to working probably at least 4 full-time jobs, simultaneously! Imagine how frustrated I used to get 2 years ago when I would self-edit a comment on a blog post more than 10 times. I’d spend as much time editing as i would writing, and it drove me mad, and I’d get pissed cause it caused me to waste time doing something that was non-productive, when i could be coding and getting work done.
So I just write what I write, the right way, the first time, and that’s alright with me!!
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Wow you sure are busy. I just have one blog at the moment so not as busy as you. Also I like to reread my posts to make sure all is okay before publishing. I even re-read post comments to make sure I have written it correctly! Obviously not got enough to do with my time lol
Patricia Perth Australia
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I rarely edit and alter my posts after publication unless it is to fix a typo or add updated information to an article. The same goes with my comments, I only edit them if I have to fix a hastily typed comment that included a typo. I edit on average only about 1 post per month after it has been published.
Twitter: bloggingbizmom
You can also write it out first, then type it out.
I know if I see the squiggly line under a word or phrase, I have to fix it NOW!
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Many years ago I was taught a better way of writing than is common in American schools. It consists of three phases: Pre-writing, Free Writing and Re-writing. The initial phase is simply allowing your mind to free associate words on your topic. No editing, no rejections, just put down every word that comes to mind for 2 minutes. Then you organize the words by simply drawing lines to show relationships. The Free writing phase consists of taking a single idea that you generated earlier and allowing the sentences to flow for one minute. Keep doing that until you’ve run out of ideas. The Re-writing is simply a structural exercise to smooth out any flow issues or correct spelling or grammatical errors. This process produces writing that is more natural and cohesive than any amount of editing can produce.
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Twitter: jaredwilli
That sounds pretty interesting. If I were a professional writer, or trying to be, this would be a great way to write. I just don’t have the time to do this for the things I write, and why I write them.
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Twitter: scribhneoir
I have to admit to not doing very much self-editing other than to correct the obvious spelling mistakes as I go along, although sometimes I can restrain myself enough and leave the typos until I am finished.
I tend to just write and go – I don’t write a post, leave it a day and come back to it, if I did that I don’t think that I would ever get a piece posted, I am not organised enough! Sometimes I do have a post running around in my head for a while before I get to the keyboard, in fact sometimes I might have two or three in there – it can get crowded!
Editing is not my problem – discipline is my downfall, it’s hard to get the time to sit down and write the post first time round without becoming distracted with twitter or reading other blogs. And of course having a look at sites like comment luv to see what the guest writers are saying…
Twitter: jaredwilli
Distractions like websites (twitter, facebook, etc.) are also a major productivity killer. I try to just keep those sites closed, and focus on what I’m doing as best I can. Doesn’t really work all that well most of the time
jaredwilli recently posted..WordPress 30 Basic – A Theme Framework Released By New2WP
Twitter: scribhneoir
Yeah, I agree about trying to keep those distractions closed, when I deal with my blog before looking at twitter I do tend to be more effective – good reminder
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Twitter: geekbabe
Wow, you’ve nailed my situation exactly, reading & rereading checking for errors, checking word flow etc.I do agree with you though, now that I’m writing more, the editing monster has gotten a bit smaller.
I do a fair amount of product review/giveaway posts, I’ve saved my FTC Diclaimer statement and the rules for my giveaways.When starting a new post I copy/past those in first,then insert my images, having the post framed out makes writing the rest of the article easier for me as I’m not sitting there staring at a white,blank page & getting the “what the hell can I write” panic.
You’ve nailed my situation also and I can see myself getting better as I get more articles under my belt. I really never thought about writing in such detail though. Thanks for this hidden analysis.
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Writing like you talk is a practice and after a while you get better at it. It’s also helpful if you have a spotter or two that will catch your mistakes and tell you. I just logged a post yet I still read the email of it sent by RSS. And yes, I spotted something. The law of diminishing returns does set in but I would be lying if I said that I edit only a couple of times.
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I swear, I could have written this post! I spend so much time fussing with formatting and coding, each post takes years off my life. And I write 30-45 posts each month.
Perhaps it’s time to work on the stream-of-consciousness method – regurgitate ideas from my brain, through my fingers, and out onto the page. Then, worry about sorting it all and coding it ‘all pretty’. I don’t know, but right now it certainly feels as though I’m spending too much time on all the wrong things.
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As a professional writer, I fell in love with this paragraph:
“You don’t have to be a professional writer, who gets paid to sit at a computer all day just cranking out line after line of perfectly worded grammar and delicious english, full of fresh wit and written with little linguistic hershey kisses.”
What a great post – and I think you’re dead on… for the most part, it’s unnecessary. One quick edit once you’re finished to make sure you don’t have any horrible, glaring errors in really noticeable places, no spelling problems that make your doc nonsensical or no formatting problems and you should be good.
In my case, though, I edit every time I come back to a document I’ve stepped away from, whether I write it in one sitting or ten – but that’s because I get paid to do it.
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Twitter: jaredwilli
I’m glad you liked that paragraph. That means a lot to me coming from someone who does write professionally.
I used to write poems a lot when I was younger, so that helps I suppose.
jaredwilli recently posted..WordPress 30 Basic – A Theme Framework Released By New2WP
Self-editing definately makes the writing process too time consuming. I generally just check for spelling and grammatical errors afterwards to make sure that my writing is intelligible. I don’t have time to worry about everything being perfect, and I have better things to do with my time than worry about my every word. Great advice!
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I think I am good about not editing myself while writing unless you count fixing actual typos. It really bugs me, if I have made a typo, to let it sit there without fixing it.
I generally write what I am writing and then read through it several times to edit and change things up. Otherwise I don’t think I get a cohesive thought going. It gets disjointed and stops the flow.
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Great tips. Sometimes I feel like 90% of my time spent blogging is correcting spelling mistakes, reformulating ideas, and rewriting sentences.
I do feel like I need to get everything down first and then go back and do my perfectionist thing.
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I had a professor tell me once that when I wrote a paper, to not look at the screen once. Even go so far as to turn off the monitor or lower the laptop screen. Even now I’ll write without lookinag at the screen. With autocorrect and spell check, many errors are fixed automatically. It’s more important to get the words out of my mind and onto “paper” than to fix it along the way. It’s helped me be a more prolific writer and better say what’s on my mind.
Great post.