Today’s post comes from Jodi Torpey, a Denver-based author, trainer, and business writing coach. Jodi is on a mission to change the way writers think about their business writing, one reader at a time. Read her practical tips on business writing on “The Daily Blatt” blog at www.WriteBetterFaster.com.
I had another terrible fight with my editor today. I just can’t believe the things that woman says to me.
She’s so critical. Nothing I write is good enough. She’s never said a nice word about any of my writing. She scoffs at all my brilliant ideas, takes a red pen to some of my best lines, and erases pages of writing that took hours to compose.
Who is she? She’s me.
My internal editor is there while I’m writing, too. She looks over my shoulder constantly and corrects my grammar. Sometimes she deletes my carefully crafted sentences as soon as I write them.
But, even though she’s impossible to please, I couldn’t write without her.
She’s the one who reminds me to just get to the point when my writing starts to ramble. Her nitpicking forces me to cut wordy phrases and to use active verbs. “Passive voice is so passé,” she likes to say.
“That section is too long. This chapter so disorganized,” she complains. “Who could possibly understand this?”
When I struggle to find just the right word she’ll simply say, “You have to be hard on yourself to make it easy for your reader.”
Thanks to my internal critical editor, I spend twice as much time planning what I’m going to write before I start writing it. If it weren’t for her disapproving glare I’d be tempted to take some silly shortcuts.
Here are five ways to calm the internal editor in you:
1. Think before you write. Spend a few quiet minutes thinking about your purpose for writing and what you want to say. If your thinking isn’t clear, your writing won’t be clear either.
2. Picture your reader. Imagine where he or she will be reading your writing. Keep their needs in mind with every word you write.
3. Write with consistency. Understand what works in your writing process and tap into it every time you sit down to write.
4. Start sooner. Just put words to paper. The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be.
5. Revise everything. Revising is where real writing happens. Check to make sure your message is clear, the writing concise, and that every word supports your purpose.
My internal editor’s fault-finding is frustrating, but it’s effective. My writing is always better once she’s finished with me.
How do you quiet your inner editor?
[This is post is written by a sponsor of the 2012 WordCount Blogathon. This sponsor is providing products or services to be given away during the June 1 blogathon raffle.]
I separate the writing and the editing process. This is really important because the internal editor is linear and logical while the writing brain is deeply creative. Both cannot work at the same time. If my internal editor starts to horn in on the writing process I let her know I don’t have time to deal with her right then. She will get to be in charge as soon as a first draft is finished!
I work like that as well, especially if I’m writing anything longer than 1,000 words. I’ll write through a rough outline of how I want the story to flow, then fill in attributions, statistics, links, quotes, etc., and polish the prose in multiple follow up passes.
Michelle
“The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be.”
that was the best lesson I learned when I was writing for “money”. I would get totally blocked because I wanted to write perfect sentences for critical readers right away.
As I’ve written here before, sometimes good enough is good enough. Especially if you’re working on assignment. An editor would rather have something that was 80 percent there turned in on time than something that was 99 percent there turned in a week later than they anticipated. Editors – good ones at least – know their audience inside and out and will be able to help put the finishing touches on your story, or they’ll know how to ask the right questions to fill in what’s missing.
Michelle
That was my favourite line in the piece too (the first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be). So often we let the internal editor stop us even putting two words together because we’re afraid they’ll be the wrong two words.
Perfectionism is the mother of procrastination. 😉
Passive may be passé, but it may still be the best choice when the object of a sentence is far more important than the subject.
Thanks for the reminder! I just took a few minutes to try and shape today’s blog post, your advice came at a very useful time.
Also, Masa, I like that, “The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be.” nicely put.
Jodi, as I work to calm my inner editor I am grateful that now days a few clicks erase a word or phrase. A few more add a just gained insight. Writing and editing is so much easier than it was in the 1980s.
Great tips! I particularly like Jodi’s point #1, to think a little before sitting down to write. I do this for things like guest posts and paid writing, for sure. Otherwise the first draft is more like stream of consciousness and takes much longer to revise and get into shape. Free writing (in both senses!) can be different, though; that’s when I like to just put pencil to paper and let it flow.