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The SITS Girls

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6 Editing Tips to Make Your Writing Rock

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There are tons of super informative posts all about the things you should do after you publish your blog post. Which social media sites should you post on, and at what time of day? What link-ups are available? Where can you apply to have your post syndicated? All of these are amazing ways to get readers to your words. What I don’t see is a focus on the words themselves. Are you using the correct pronouns? Does the post use a consistent tense or narrative stream? Is the correct punctuation used? Are the words all spelled correctly, or has autocorrect changed your “friend” into a “fiend”? Did you use “your” when you should have used “you’re”? All these questions can be answered during editing.

Don't have an editor to read every blog post before it goes live? No need to worry. These simple editing tips will help your writing rock.

Writing And Editing Tips

Editing is an integral part of the writing process, and one that is often skipped in blogging. A reader can be turned off a post if it’s riddled with grammatical errors, or if a lot of words are misspelled (or even misused).

Don’t lose another reader by skipping the editing process. If you can’t afford to hire someone to edit your posts, here are six helpful tips you can use when giving your post a second (or third…or fourth…) read-through.

1.) Keep a dictionary nearby

This will help you check spelling and usage of words. There are dictionary websites that can also be valuable resources.

2.) Beware homophones

I’m not even just talking about your/you’re or there/they’re/their. What about lightning/lightening, fourth/forth, chord/cord? Don’t be afraid to do a quick Google search to help you distinguish the difference in meanings for homophones that might trip you up.

3.) Use spell check

Word processing programs and internet browsers have spell check. Although they are not 100% reliable, they will help you catch the obvious typos.

4.) Read one word at a time

You know your post. You know what you want to say. But if you read each word, rather than reading as a sentence (or even reading aloud can help), you allow your brain to process each word and catch small mistakes that you might glance over when simply scanning the text. Some people even find it helpful to read the piece backwards for the same reason.

5.) Use active voice

In active voice, the subject does the action. “Albert rode his bike.” Passive voice forces the action to become the subject, and it just gets super awkward. “The bike was ridden by Albert.” Some words to look for when recognizing passive voice are: is, was, have been, will be, were.

6.) For a longer or more detailed post, let it sit

Back away from the keyboard for a day or two. This will help you see your words with a fresh perspective and you might catch inconsistencies or errors that you didn’t notice before.

Keep Reading

Looking for more information to help you take your writing to the next level? Here are a few posts you will find helpful:

About Tracie Nall

Tracie lives in Arizona with her husband, teen daughter, and more books than her shelves will hold. She spends her days writing and editing. Many of her words end up on her blog, From Tracie. Find Tracie on Twitter @FromTracie and on Instagram where she takes pictures of things that are yellow.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Jake Tyler says

    Great stuff, especially the last one!!! Rereading after one day really helps me check all the mistakes.
    Thanks for sharing these tips!!!

  3. Charlotte says

    This is such an amazing (and important!) post… Typos drive me nuts even though they slip into my posts every now and then, too. We’re human. I’ve found that the most helpful thing for me is to step away whenever I am gong cross-eyed in front of the screen. If I can barely see what I’m typing, chances are I’m not going to catch a glaring grammatical (or spelling) error.

    Thanks for this!

  9. Nataly Auger says

    Hi,

    I really liked your post! I have only been blogging for a year and a half now and I always like to get tricks to write better articles. Thanks a lot for sharing this with us.

  11. Y. Gladney says

    What a great post! Thank you for sharing this valuable information.

    I especially appreciate the website to view the homophones! I will be visiting your website for more wisdom.

    I love blogging as if there is an error or typo, I can immediately change it, update it and republish it.

  12. tove stakkestad says

    I love this – I have a rule of “not posting while tired”. I have narcolepsy and can tend to write “half asleep/ half awake” – so I don’t allow myself to post the same night I write something. It’s like a gun purchase – I need to let it cool for a day – if it still sounds like a great piece the next morning then I can post it! I appreciate your advice here… printing it to keep handy!

  13. pam (Sidewalk Shoes) says

    These are great tips. Especially the read aloud. Lately I’ve been typing faster than I think and leaving out a word or two. Sometimes the first read through doesn’t even catch it!

  15. Nichole says

    Something that always helps me is reading the post aloud! It may sound silly but I find little things here and there I wouldn’t have otherwise! I love all these tips especially the read one word at a time!

    • Nancy Man says

      I agree with this. I don’t do it often — it just feels weird to read things aloud when I’m alone in a room, you know? — but it’s extremely helpful. Especially for the more detailed/complex type of post mentioned in tip #6.

  17. Tiffany says

    Great tips! I am most careful when it comes to homophones because they are so easy to switch up most times without even noticing. Thanks for sharing!

  18. Lisa says

    Great tips. Just like one of the other comments said, I think it’s important to let a post sit for awhile and read it again with fresh eyes before publishing it.

  19. Gema says

    Thank you for the tips, after writing a post I post a preview then read it again. I have found that I pick up most of my writing mistakes that I didn’t see before.

  21. Aruna - Young Yoga Masters says

    These are useful tips, I try to do them but get tripped up on the spelling.

    With blogging so global, its challenging to choose between my native spelling and the American spelling of words like: centre/center or flavour/flavor.

    • [email protected] says

      I completely understand – and I’m American! I grew up reading books from all over the place, and many of my favorites where by British authors, so I tend to automatically use classical spellings, too. I’m still not sure if there’s a “right” way to spell those words, so I usually just go with whatever feels natural to me, and then make sure I’m consistent.