Summary

The article provides quick writing and editing hacks to improve productivity and quality of literary work.

Abstract

The article "Writing and Editing Hacks You Can Implement In Seconds…Literally" offers practical advice for writers to enhance their writing process. It suggests taking breaks to clear the mind and prevent burnout, switching to a different medium like pen and paper to refresh the writing approach, and changing font styles and sizes to trick the brain into reviewing the text with fresh eyes. The author emphasizes the importance of a writer's connection with their project, advocating for abandoning stories that don't resonate personally, and encourages writers to have a clear intention before starting any writing project to maintain passion and productivity. The article also touches on the psychological aspect of why writers often miss their own typos, explaining that the brain reads in chunks rather than individual letters, and offers a simple font change hack to minimize overlooking errors due to familiarity with the text.

Opinions

The author believes that stressing the brain to work more can be counterproductive and suggests taking breaks to improve writing quality.
Writing with pen and paper is recommended as a way to escape the monotony of typing and to facilitate a more thoughtful approach to drafting.
Writers should feel a personal connection to their work, and if such a bond is missing, they might consider switching projects.
The concept of "killing your darlings" is supported, indicating that writers should be willing to cut out parts of their work that don't serve the story, despite personal attachment.
The author points out that the brain's familiarity with one's own writing can lead to overlooked errors, and suggests changing font styles and sizes as a method to see the text from a new perspective and catch mistakes more effectively.
The article is inspired by Tim Denning's approach to maintaining a dynamic and productive writing routine.

Writing and Editing Hacks You Can Implement In Seconds…Literally

Quick hacks you can add to your literary armor

Words are to writers as swords are to warriors.

A peaceful bunch, we try our best to avoid confrontation with our drafts — first drafts specifically. This battle, unfortunately, can’t be put off too long. So here are quick hacks you can add to your literary armor.

Take a break

If you are feeling brain drained. Just stop.

A very obvious tactic, but the least followed…takes only a second.

There is a difference between being busy and being productive. Most times, we are just busy trying too hard to get things done. As a consequence, this imposition reflects badly in our work.

The thing is, stressing your brain to do more work is doing more harm than good. This is why most people write their best after a nap; your head is clear, and you have more perspective because you are not under pressure.

Is writing not supposed to be difficult — challenging? Yes. But not difficult.

Next time you are sitting over a computer, and the words refused to come — just let it be. Breathe a little, get a bite to eat, or just take a run — anything but stare at the blank screen.

Use a different medium

Great works aren’t written; they are re-written.

Routine can be tedious; just thinking of typing away on your laptop is work on its own.

Instead, you could use a pen and a notebook. Choose a more comfortable position and scribble away. This relieves you of the pressure of actually typing. Then when it is time to type it into your computer, you have more clarity, and can you expand on what you have even written.

This makes it a more refined second draft, rather than the first draft it would have been if you simply typed it straight on the computer.

Switch over

If you are not feeling it, then it is not it

Writing is easier when you love what you’re writing about. If in the middle of your book or writing project, it still takes you will power to update, and continue with the story, then maybe that is not the story for you to tell.

This is not promoting unpublished drafts –we all have those, some worse than the others. However, there should be a sort of connection between you and your project.

I call my stories and books my babies because they are my brain babies. This attraction sometimes translates more aggressively in passionate writers, especially when their work is in question. For example, a writer might vehemently refuse to remove a piece of writing even when told by their editor that it doesn’t add to the story. The word I believe is ‘Kill your darlings.’

It applies to personal projects. Of course, work writing (writing for a living) means we should write exactly what the clients want.

My friend once said something to me, and it stuck. He said, ‘As long you have the right intention for writing, you will never run out of words.’

I am sending that message to you: Before you start on any writing project — or any project in question, know exactly why you are doing it. When that is cleared, writing becomes straight forward.

Editing hack

Have you ever gone back to read an old article you posted someplace on the internet, and your eyeballs shrink from the typographical errors you see and you wonder how on earth you could have missed them?

A partial explanation is the brain reads the words as a group and not the individual letters that make up the word. So even if I sotp wirting the coecrrt wrods, your bairn wloud still raed it wtih littel effrot becusae it wkros with familiarity.

I did more research on that and familiarity with the words and pre-existing knowledge of sentence structure makes the brain predict the words. Basically, you skip minor errors because your brain understands the message you are trying to pass across and doesn’t waste time with breakdown.

This is more pronounced when you edit immediately after writing.

And No, Grammarly can’t always save you because the placement of the words, majorly, is semantically correct.

Although it is perfectly normal, you can’t tell that to a client. No one pays you money to give excuses.

The good news is, I just discovered a useful hack to minimalize this occurrence. It also works well when you are running out of ideas on a writing project, and its implementation is a click away:

Change the Font style and size

This tricks your brain into seeing the work as a different document. It can also work when you are tired of writing or running out of ideas on a particular story.

Try it, and please let me know if it works for you too!

P.S This write-up was inspired by Tim Denning, whose post ‘How I Write A Stupid Amount Of New Content Effortlessly’ suggested in a segment that we amp up our writing routine to prevent stale writing and make it more flexible.

Thank you!