Self-Editing Tip #10: Handy Self-Editing Check List and Reference Guide
Use this before you submit to Middle-Pause. Please.
I wouldn’t keep writing these posts if I didn’t keep seeing the same issues crop up again and again. So please read them! It allows us editors to focus on the heart of your story, not the incidentals.
But those incidentals can keep readers from getting the heart of your story.
Edit tip #1: Bios Can Be Fun
Or the heart of you, as in the case of your bio. So that’s where we’ll start, beginning, as they say, with the end in mind. Here’s some helpful hints on how to tell us briefly, who you are:
Edit tip #2: Make the Headlines
The most important lines in your whole piece are the headlines. You want to be catchy, but not clickbaity, and at the same time, let folks know what they can expect from your story. All with the correct capitalization. Here’s how:
Editing Tip #3: It’s Okay to Be Spacy!
We love ‘white’ or open space in our stories. And so do our mobile device readers, who are some 60 percent of Medium readers. Those long blocks of text can slow folks down. Or make them want to skip ahead. So help them out by spacing your text out. Check this out:
Self-Editing Tip #4: Let’s Not Snub Our Subheadings
Subheadings help your reader track their way through your story. They also help open up the space, enhancing the reading experience. So please, please, please break up your stories with subheadings unless they are very short. Yes, you can use the three dots, but you’re missing an opportunity to communicate. Check it out:
Self-Editing Tip #5: Putting TLC into Photo Selection
After your headline, your photo or image determines whether your potential reader will click on your story or someone else’s. Do everything you can to ensure they click on yours. How? By paying attention to your photo. And please credit the photographer. That’s a Medium request, not just ours. Here you go:
Self-Editing Tip #6: Tag/Topic Talk
We have some special instructions about this in our Submission Guidelines that many of you miss. And we want you to know which topics (tags) we submitted to Medium for the boosting program. That’s all right here in this tip, so take a look:
Self-Editing Tip #7: Every Story Paints a Picture
This is a writing tip. Don’t just tell us. Show us.
Give one or more personal or real-life examples of what you’re discussing. They drive the point home so well, and make you real and relatable to your readers. Turn your foibles into lessons. We won’t respect you any less. We’ll probably respect you even more for your honesty and courage. Check it out:
Self-Editing Tip #8: Before You Submit
This is our Middle-Pause mini-style guide. Our verbal aesthetic, if you will. It’s also got some basic writing tips. Now that we’re in the boosting program, we’ve got even more reason to help each story be the best it can be. And reach as many readers as it can. Help us help you by reading this:
Self-Editing Tip #9: Get Paid for Your Posts
I wrote this post when I noticed some of you didn’t have your meters on. In it, I explain Medium’s Partnership Program — which is how we get paid — and how to qualify for it. Hint: you need 100 followers.
So please follow your sisters here on the Pause. I also share the fastest way you can spot-check to make sure your story’s ‘behind the paywall.’ Here you go:
Self-Editing Tip #11: To Link or Not to Link
Everything you ever wanted to know, or at least what I know about if, how, and why to put links in your stories. This includes how to make pretty links and how to link Youtube and other videos to your posts. Check it out here:
Self-Editing Tip #12: KISS and Tell, but Keep it Simple, Sweeties!
This post is full of nuts and bolts, odds and ends you need to know. Like how to fill out your ‘Alt Text’ box so visually challenged people can ‘read’ your photographs and images. Medium values full accessibility. So make sure you do this.
Also in the post are tips on sentence rhythm and structure, adverbs and adjective use, and the we vs. you decision. Suggestions and ideas that make your posts more dynamic and fun to read. Enhancing the reader experience is your best bet for getting past that 30-second threshold and upping your read ratio. So check this puppy out!
Self-Editing Tip #13: Are you a Heavy-Handed Mad Hadder?
What’s that? you ask, innocently.
But you may be one of us who unknowingly overuses the had + verb construction when simple past tense is more than adequate. To wit: She had told her children thousands of times to clean up their room. Sound familiar? The verb construction I mean, not the nagging.
Here’s a correct use of the had + verb (plus perfect tense): He had written 39,639 articles on Medium before even one got boosted.
Sound familiar? Confusing?
See this tip for more details on this use of had conundrum:
Self-Editing Tip # 14: We Love You and Your Stories but DRAFTS ONLY!
Does this need to be explained?
Yes, it does. It’s so easy to hit publish accidentally. We’ve probably all done it. If so is there something we can do?
Yes, read this post.
And if we comment on your already published peace and invite you to submit, ninety-nine times out of one hundred we mean, write and send us a brand new draft. Not that piece. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but not very often.
For more deets, check this out:
Self-Editing Tip # 15: Make Sure You Add ‘Alt Text’ to Your Images
Adding Alt Text to the pictures, graphics, and art that illustrate and complement your stories makes them accessible to visually impaired readers. So please, help them get the full experience of your story.
It also enhances your story’s discoverability on Google and other search engines, since they scan those words. So it’s a great place to use keywords and be descriptive: How? It’s all explained right here:
So there you have them.
All fourteen (so far) Self-Editing Tips in one place for handy reference. Again, help us help you by reading them.
Hint: You may want to bookmark (list) this story for easy access.
Oh, and Happy writing! We look forward to hearing from and reading you!
Marilyn Flower is a sacred fool who writes every day — fiction, poetry, and blogs — inspired by a process called SoulCollage®. She’s the author of Creative Blogging and Bucket Listers: Get Your Brave On. Follow her Sacred Foolishness or SoulCollage® for Writers, and Stay in touch!
