Revise Your Revisions

After the initial writing process is complete, it is time to revise, revise, revise. Not even the best writers get it right on the first try.

First of all, don’t fall in love with your own words. Many people don’t like to change what they’ve already put on the page, and this often prevents them from revising as fully as necessary. Sometimes, even if the original words have some merit, there are better ways to express an idea.

You are trying to convey your ideas as clearly as possible. If a sentence or a paragraph doesn’t seem to be working right, don’t just change a word here or there. Determine the specific idea you need to convey, and then write a new sentence from scratch. In some cases, you may also need to do this for entire paragraphs or sections.

Do not let this act depress you. It is a normal part of the writing process.

After you have read through your draft several times, you may want to try some other techniques to polish it further:

• Try reading the draft backwards; go sentence by sentence from the end to the beginning. This takes your mental focus off of...