100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019

Think about what you have written
Seven ways to edit yourself

It’s very easy when you are locked in the passionate embrace of the writing muse to write something that sounds really dumb. The writer routinely includes the banal, the inaccurate, and the just plain stupid in early drafts simply by forgetting that what one meant to say is not always what got written down.

But when the passion cools a bit and the writer rereads his or her work, curious phrases will suddenly show themselves: Did she mean to write, “There was literally an ocean of people . . .”? Of course not. But she did. Did he intend to write, “He could care less . . .”? No. He meant to write, “He couldn’t care less.”

You will make mistakes in your early drafts. That’s okay. But before you complete a final draft, let at least a day pass and then think carefully about what you wrote before turning to your keyboard. You may find that what you thought was brilliant prose on Tuesday borders on the moronic by Friday. On the other hand, you may discover that what seemed trivial when you wrote it is, in fact, profound.