It's the source of so much frustration among the health and wellness professionals I
work with.

And yet it's an essential part of marketing your business.

I'm talking about editing your writing.

Read on for 3 simple tips to help you edit your writing more efficiently, so you can save time and brain power and-- most important of all-- get back to the work you actually enjoy:
 

Tip #1: Don't draft and edit at the same time

Okay, I'm going to set a little scene for you, and you tell me if this is familiar:

Type a sentence.

{Delete delete delete}

Choose word.

{Reflect on word. Scrutinize word. Investigate spelling, definition, and ancient origin of word...}

It's death by a thousand. tiny. cuts.

I used to write this way all the time.

And judging by the response when I shared about this over on Instagram:

...a lot of you are writing this way, too. 




As I'm sure you've experienced for yourself, it's exhausting!

It's horribly inefficient to write this way, and the reason for that?

We're actually fighting against ourselves when we're doing this horrible little "draft/edit, draft/edit" dance.

Seth Godin cautioned about this very clearly when he said:

"Don't try to create and analyze at the same time."

And I completely agree:

They're two distinct processes. 

Try to pull them off at the same time, and one will always interfere with the other.

Fortunately, the solution is actually quite simple!

You schedule separate sessions for writing copy + for editing what you've written.

These sessions could take place on completely different days OR just different times of the same day.

The point is to set some good boundaries and treat them like their own little session.

Now, I'll be honest:

It can take some getting used to if you're not in the habit of writing this way. But,
once it becomes second nature, it's going to change the efficiency with which you can write and edit. 

In fact, it's just going to change your whole approach to writing, I promise.

Tip #2: Draft "off the grid"

So, when you have a session designated for drafting copy, the point here is to give yourself free rein to create without the interference of censorship.

It can be helpful to go ahead and turn off any autocorrect functions you have in place.

In Google Docs, for example, it's really easy to do this under Tools:

• Under Spelling and Grammar, you can temporarily disable the auto-suggest feature of each of these.
• Under Preferences, you can disable any of the additional automated edit options until you're ready to use them.

In fact, while you're at it, I recommend unplugging from your internet connection, if you can!

Again, most word processing software gives you the option to work offline and this is a great way to keep your mind focused on the creation process without the easy distraction of all those little tabs open.

Tip #3: Edit in waves

Now, there are lots of different ways you could approach the editing process, once the drafting is done and you're on to editing.

But, here's a basic workflow you can follow:

1. First, go through and flag anything that you want to cite, expand upon, or check for factual accuracy. That way, you'll have a list in front of you when you do eventually reconnect to your wi-fi and go hunting for answers.
2. Next, take the whole thing you've written and record yourself reading it out loud. Then, listen back for tone, flow, and how it's all coming together.
3. Finally, once you've revised it for content, tone, and flow, go ahead and bust out your figurative (or literal) red pen and give the whole thing a good, thorough proofread. You can do this right there on your screen or you can print the whole thing out and review the hard copy. (<-- This last part is personal preference-- it's totally up to you. I tend to go by length. For instance, if I were editing an Instagram caption, I wouldn't bother printing it out; I'd just edit it right there on my screen. But, if it were something longer and more involved, like an email welcome sequence or copy for a website page, I'd print out a hard copy of the whole thing and go over it that way.)

No matter what you're editing, though, I recommend you drop the whole thing into a
Google Doc and make a few adjustments, just to make your life easier:

• you can increase the size of the text
• space out the actual lines, so you have more white space as you read
• and switch out the font to something "non-proportional" or "monospaced" (I use Courier a lot. It helps any typographical or other errors become more prominent on the page, and it just makes it a lot easier to spot them as you're editing.)

Once that's done, you can switch all the autocorrect functions on again if you like.

But remember:

Just because any of these built-in features might make a suggestion for how to make
something more grammatically correct, for example, you're ultimately in the driver's seat. You get to decide what's going to communicate your meaning most effectively to your dream audience.

And if you'd like another set of eyes on your work, I'd love to have you join the hundreds of health and wellness professionals who've completed my (free!) 5-Day About Page Challenge! 

Let's take action!

Here's your action step for today:

• Choose 1 of the tips above to edit writing more productively!