The Power of Proofreading

Greetings and Happy June!

Today's post is very important, so read it, study it and talk about it with your friends. And as always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

There is a critical part of the writing process that separates the good communicators from the not-so-good ones. It’s proofreading. I can always tell when someone has taken the time to edit their writing because they have fewer errors, clearer ideas and a more readable style than those who send their work off thinking it’s “good enough.”
Because it’s so hard to switch your brain over from writer to reader, I believe the best way to edit yourself is not to edit yourself. The longer you have worked on a piece, the more emotionally attached you are and the more you need a fresh set of eyes to look at it. So my very first tip is: whenever possible, have someone else do your proofreading for you. I can almost guarantee they will see things that you have missed. Chalk it up to human nature, but we are much more inclined to see errors in other people than in ourselves.
However, if you happen to be short a minion, spouse or business partner, keep these tips in mind as you are editing yourself:

Put some time between you and your document before proofing. Overnight is best.

Use spell-check first because it may catch things that you might have missed, like extra spaces between words. (But don’t rely on it for your final proof.)

Print out your document. I know, that’s not very “green” of me to suggest, but reading on a monitor is very different from reading on paper. Use scratch paper and set your printer to the “draft” setting to save ink.

Proof for each element separately. Go through the whole thing once for spelling, again for consistency, etc.

Turn the paper upside-down and read from bottom to top, right to left. This may sound silly, but it forces you to focus on each word so you are less likely to get lost in the message and miss critical mistakes.

As you edit, don’t stop to fix errors or rewrite. Read through the entire document, flagging each item as you go. Then go back and make corrections.

Once you have done this a few times, you may begin to see patterns in your writing that indicate areas you need to work on. For me, it’s overusing the passive voice. For you, it might be verb tense or run-on sentences. Whatever the problem, the best way to begin fixing it is to have someone you trust look at your work, then edit yourself with a critical eye.

And if you have any questions, be sure to drop me a note. I’d be happy to help.

Write on!