Can Editing be Fun?

There are several certain ways you can follow to make the editing process less routine and more fun.

1. Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

What do you consider to be the worst part about process of editing? Is it the great amount of time it takes? Or is it much mental effort it requires? In fact, many studies prove that the worry is the factor that makes editing so difficult. Many editors are afraid that the draft they’re working on will simply not work. Stress makes editing rather scary, but in reality, many types of fears do not have a solid ground. It is important to remember that editing is able to ressurrect allmost any kind of work no matter how difficult it may seem.

2. Sleep No Less than Eight Hours a Day.

This is the simplest thing you can do to make editing process so much easier. Many editors often choose to sacrifice their sleep to edit more pages. Whenever they do this, next day they have an awful mood that sticks around until they can finally have a nap, or take a giant portion of caffeine. Editors should be mindful about their sleep schedule, as regular naps are able to increase your productivity.

3. Design Your Secret Weapon.

It is known that each writer needs his/her secret weapon to enhance creativity. Come up with your own secret weapon that you could use during the editing process. There is a good technique that could help you. When you experience difficulties, just take your favorite article you’ve edited and re-read it. Let it be a small reminder to you of what you are really capable of. Re-reading gives you more confidence to keep editing.

4. Time Management.

An interesting thing is that editing can sometimes take even longer than actually writing the first draft. This is absolutely fine. At first you write on paper everything that comes to your mind, but then you need to edit your work, make these thoughts as precise as possible.

5. Use Interesting Techniques for Fresh Perspective.

There are some interesting editing techniques that you could use to get a fresh perspective. For example, you may choose to eliminate all forms of «to be» verb. «To be» is not allowed in any form, including the use of passive voice. Try using this or other similar techniques, it proves to be much fun.

6. Use Easy and Familiar Language.

Comfortable sentence structure and easy metaphors are commonly used and their use is quite predictable. Think outside the box, add some interesting thoughts and unordinar metaphors to the piece you work on. Breathe a new life into it, be creative, don’t be afraid to experiment!