Writing is Exciting: But How to Climb the Mountain of Editing

For any writer or copywriter, creating new ideas and plots is exciting and motivating.

But editing and finessing can be a very arduous task. 

Especially if you are writing a long-form copy that needs to be submitted to an approver for further feedback.

The key to editing is to be clear about the objective.

There are three types of edit. Each has its purpose and needs to be done on a piece of writing separately.

Value edit: In this editing mode, you scrutinize the main idea, concept, or value proposition of the copy. 

Is it exciting and relevant for the target reader? Are they getting the value promised by the title? 

If not, then you start from a blank page again with a new idea.

Function edit: In this editing mode, you check the cohesiveness of different parts of the copy. 

Is it intriguing where it is supposed to be? Is it answering the objections of the reader properly? 

If not, you rewrite those sections again. Or if you miss something, you add new sections.

Line Edit: You revisit the lines and make the copy more readable. 

If you stop using repetitive words and avoid using the same sentence structure, you will be better off than 90% of people.

One of my favorite advice is to write the copy first and then come back to it a couple of days later to edit it. 

This works wonders for me. I need to get the idea out onto the page quickly or you can say braindump it. 

When I come back to it a couple of days later, I can put a different hat and edit it much better.

Looking at the editing with these three different angles has made my writing better.

So there you go. Use these three types of editing and let me know how the quality of your writing has improved.