Shaelin Writes concludes her prose tutorial with a close edit of some of her own writing. Shaelin takes us through her editing process, line by line, as she looks for any errors or awkward moments that impeded her meaning. Some of the things she looks for are: acts of melodrama, clichés, wordiness, logic, continuity, and “unnecessary telling.” The latter is a great trick because it asks the writer to consider those fleeting, throw away additions to your writing that are obvious or unnecessary. Also, note that she reads her writing out loud and actually catches mistakes that she missed during previous edits!
Self-editing is an important part of the writing process, and fortunately, we can use built-in systems on our computers to help us stay organized while we actively review our work. Shaelin demonstrates how she edits, line by line, in order to make her writing more effective, logical, and purposeful. How she goes through the process of editing each line may help you as well.