Stephen Bleile

Here are Four Tips for Editing Excellence.

First, always write “hot” and edit “cold.”  Truly, there is absolutely no point in editing your work right after you just finished writing it. End of story. Ideally you should leave a week or two in-between when you write your piece and when you edit it.  Of course, you may not have that kind of time; in which case, you should give yourself as long as you can with as much “not writing’ in-between so your mind can refresh and refocus. If your communication piece cannot wait you should consider outsourcing the editing to a professional.  See my post on the two essential components of every piece of communication to learn why.

Second, you need a reference book on all of the little rules of punctuation and spelling.  NOBODY remembers all of the little rules.  I personally recommend you purchase The Elements of Style originally by Oliver Strunk and revised by William Strunk and E.B.White. It is an outstanding reference guide.  It has been referenced by many big name writers and now I lend my credence to it as well

Third, If you are editing for technical issues such as punctuation, spelling, and the like try starting with the last sentence and then the second last etc.  This will force your mind to really look at each sentence as a unique entity.  When you read your own piece from start to finish you’ll get caught up in the flow of it and then miss small errors.

Fourth, you should not just edit your piece with the eye to find technical errors but also read to see how it flows from thought to thought and from paragraph to paragraph.  Try reading your piece out loud.  Does it go from broad to very specific?  Does each sentence provoke you to read the next sentence?

There are really only two parts of any piece of communication: the medium and the message.

The medium is the carrier of the message. Just as medicine can be administered by pill, capsule, I.V., or needle the medium can take many forms such as songs, blogs, web pages and lectures.

The message is the idea that is to be communicated.  It is the thing that we wish to put inside of our audience where it can ripple and resonate and create new ideas and new actions.

Very important messages  -the ones that pertain to life and death- often need to be delivered with the acute clarity and precision of a needle.  There are no niceties – just the brutal truth that often leaves a sting.

Non emergency messages can take any number of forms -from chewable pills to healthy diets.  Their effect is not as immediate or potent, but we would not want it any other way.

In the 60′s the famous Canadian philosopher, Marshal McLuhan, made the bold assertion that the medium IS the message.

In effect, this meant that people no longer cared about what you were saying so much as how you were saying it.  If the message appeared to be in a syringe it must be bad.  If the message was easy to swallow – it must be good.

Discriminating minds can still see the difference between medium and message HOWEVER many people cannot.  If it doesn’t look good, they want nothing to do with it.

This is why it is essential that all communication be presented with the best medium available.  There is no room for error or our message will not be taken in by our audience and there will be no new ideas or action.

No one likes needles... No one!