Measure Twice, Cut Once

My guide for thoroughly self editing your writing

Anyone who is a builder, either by profession or hobby, will tell you, “measure twice, cut once.” This statement basically means to double check what you want to cut is correct before you do it. I follow a similar mindset when I edit my books. I read four times, edit once.

Now, I don’t just sit and scroll through my Word document and read it four times. That will numb you to your own writing where you will blindly overlook typos because you know what it’s meant to say.

When I edit, I try to engage different parts of my brain so that I can see my work from different angles and catch different mistakes each time.

Before I break down my method, I firstly want to say, self editing is a necessary part of writing and publishing, but no matter how thorough you are, it doesn’t replace hiring a professional editor. I understand they can be expensive and you don’t know why you should hire one when you can edit yourself, but trust me. An editor and cover designer are two expenses worth paying! Especially if you want to see the best version of you book! Beta readers are also an ideal step in your revising stage. I have a separate article about those here:

But back to your own self edits. Four read throughs, but none of them are the same, and they all benefit your edits differently.

1. Print and read

After I finish typing the last line of my book, I print the entire manuscript out. I know it’s a lot of paper and ink, but reading a physical copy engages a different part of your brain than reading from a computer. If you don’t have a printer, often times you can use one at the library for a small fee.

As you read through the story, start to finish, make notes along the way. Don’t completely revise, just say what you’d like to add or subtract, etc, like a teacher would mark a student’s paper. This phase helps you to catch typos and grammatical errors best.

2. Perform

I say this with a smile, because I absolutely hate my recorded voice, as I’m sure most of you do. In this next step though, instead of reading the story in your mind you’re going to read it aloud.

And record it.

Why? Reading aloud makes you read every word more consistently, rather than skimming like reading in your head. You are also able to catch if any sentences sound wonky or unnecessarily wordy, or if the dialogue doesn’t seem smooth and authentic.

This step helps me because I tend to write more formally than people talk, like I don’t use a lot of contractions in my first draft for whatever reason. This step helps me to hear how stiff it sounds.

While reading aloud and recording, continue to make little notes on your printed out copy.

3. Listen to your own personal audiobook

Cringe worthy, I know, but again, listening to something uses a different part of the brain. Listening to your story like an audiobook helps your mind capture the picture you tried to paint. If the picture is a little fuzzy, you may need to repaint it. Make notes on your printed out copy as usual.

Listening to your book also helps with seeing the story as a whole. For me, it helps to reveal plot holes, weak descriptions, and when things are just moving too slow.

4. Read it again

“But I just read it three ways? What else is there?”

Well, there’s the actual editing.

I do count the editing read through as a read through. After you complete the first three steps, it’s time to look at your messy printed out copy. If it’s not messy, you did it wrong. No first draft will ever be perfect and not in need of serious work. That’s okay because you can fix a bad manuscript. The part you can’t fix is a blank one, so kudos to you for even writing the thing in the first place!

Go through your book, page by page, and make all the little changes you marked along the way. Knowing what needs fixed in the ending from all your read through will help you prepare for those changes in the beginning. That’s why we were so thorough. You also want to have your grammar program on for this part to catch all your easy to fix problems, whether it’s ProWritingAid, Grammarly, or just Word’s built in one.

Once you think you’re finished, you can read your book a fifth time just for fun, and hopefully you won’t see any need to make any more changes. That’s when you know it’s ready for beta readers, or an editor, whichever path you take.

My goal as a writer is to share everything I learn along my author journey. If you sign up to join my mailing list you will stay in the loop for these articles plus receive even more writing tips and research strategies! AshleyNicoleWrites.com

Also, my debut novel, Sacrificial Lamb, is available for preorder! I you like emotion driven dark fantasy with secrets, betrayals, and manipulations grab an ebook or paperback now! Katie thought life was hard until she saw what waited for her in the afterlife.