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EDITING YOUR WORK
Why is it important to edit your work?
We can often spend a lot of time on a piece of writing simply because we read it and reread it over and over again to make sure our words make sense, our sentences are grammatically correct or to check spelling mistakes. But through this we lose a fresh perspective on the quality of our writing. That is why it is important to go back to it later on, and not make the mistake of thinking that once we’ve finished writing our piece, it is completely done and that it is the final version.
A good piece of writing, in my opinion, takes thought and intelligence and cannot be blurted out as if we were in an informal conversation or else that will be reflected in the piece of writing. I believe it takes a minimum of planning or control over what is happening on the paper. Even in terms of your style of writing, if your style is informal that still takes precision to accomplish an informal style of writing that is comprehensible and catchy and that doesn’t just sound like you talking to your friend for example.
Therefore to start off it takes some previous planning, starting by finding the theme you are talking about, what is your opinion on it or making sure you have the facts right and this means doing research. But most importantly planning your introduction, body and conclusion of your piece of writing which you can use as a guide when writing. Because good writing has logic and structure. Having some sort of structure before starting to write can help you greatly in getting an idea of how you’re going to express yourself and striking through those elements and opinions you want to include in your writing. Afterwards you simply need to make sure that you’ve put these elements properly into your writing, that they do make sense and they do belong there.
So good writing does come from editing, and sometimes from a rewrite but not necessarily of the whole thing. Editing gives you control over your work, it helps you shape a jumble of thoughts into something clear and accessible, and that is when the reader is convinced that the writer knows what he wants to say. Because knowing what you want to say doesn’t mean that it will be understood. Therefore editing is crucial to convey confidence. And remember, it is after all, all about the reader.
Words matter, specially when used well, in my opinion people really undervalue their words when they are a great asset. So if you have something to say and you want others to hear you, then say it right!
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SALOMÉ GAUTIER 