The writing process does not just end when your first draft is ready. Writing is only the first step. There will be a ton of rewriting and reviewing to do until a final draft is ready to be published. This phase of rewriting and reviewing is called editing. 

The editing phase is where your writing goes to shine. It is a series of processes that examines and refines the content, structure, intent and language of your work. 

Self-editing can be tricky and difficult for a lot of reasons, and you might want to consider hiring a professional; however, depending on your skill set and knowledge, self-editing can become an enjoyable, rewarding and less difficult process. You become a better writer when you know how to edit your work whether you are an award-winning writer or looking to make your first publication. By self-editing, you can find more joy and fulfilment in your writing, save time and money, and become more productive as a creative. 

If your draft is ready and you are considering self-editing, here are some helpful tips to get you started:

• Know what you are editing

There are various kinds of editing, like structural editing where the overall structure of your content is reviewed, and line editing where you edit one sentence after the other. What you are editing determines the types of editing you employ. 

A novel, for instance; will require more in-depth editing and structural analysis than an advertisement article, and a sales invoice will not be edited like you would a collection of poems. Start by identifying the aim of the piece you want to edit, and the category of writing it falls under.   

• Understand the goal of the piece

The work of an editor is to correct errors and improve a piece, not change what is written– which can happen where there is no proper understanding of the writer’s ideas. If you are editing someone else's work, talk with the writer to understand their goal, and get familiar with their voice, writing style and the message they are trying to convey. If the writer is yourself, study your document to be sure you have a clear understanding of the above areas. Ideally, writing them out on a sheet could be a big help. That way, you can always refer to them as you edit. 

• Know the audience

A written piece is successful when it is appropriate for its intended audience. The tone, sentence structure, word choice, pacing, grammar, plot sequence, and readability must be just right for the type and category of the intended audience. 

• Edit a printed copy

Online editing is possible but hardly thorough. Editing a printed copy of a piece is an efficient proofreading practice. You can see common errors, do a better job and protect your eyes from screen lights. Also, there isn’t anything quite like holding a printed copy of a piece in your hands!

• Read the document aloud

When you read aloud, you hear for yourself the words you’ve written. The sound will help you gauge the impact of words and sentences, and the overall message. You’d be able to spot repetitions, awkward descriptions and other such errors. 

• Find a system that makes it easier

Depending on the volume of the material you want to edit, you may have to create a system that makes the process less cumbersome and tiresome; for example: breaking down the work into bits of chapters or paragraphs. 

Editing is done line after line, one sentence at a time and one word at a time. This process can become mechanical and boring, and make you lose your freshness and focus at some point. 

• Give it a break

If you are self-editing, setting your draft aside for a couple of days after writing before beginning the editing process can help you retain a degree of objectivity. When you return to your writing, you can look at your piece with a fresh perspective and effect changes that will improve your work.

• Read

To take your draft from good to great, you need to know what to look out for and where to look, and most of this knowledge comes from learning through reading. 

Also, be sure to read the draft several times while you edit. Since editing is a series of revisions and rewritings, you want to be sure that each stage of editing improves the document as a whole. 

• Proofread after editing

There is always the tendency to focus on surface errors before or at some point during editing. Going through the editing stages first will give your document the improvement it needs after which you can then polish it by proofreading.

Things to Look Out for While Self-Editing: