Editing - Part 1 - Have Someone Else Take A Look At Your Work

Guest Blogger Sharon Sutinen, Editor and Owner of Vital Virtual Services shares her expertise with us in a series of posts about editing. Enjoy!

Errors Flying Across the Internet Miles!
In this age of social media, instant messaging, text messaging, and the like, there are plenty of errors flying across the Internet miles, into print, even onto the television screen. I've even noticed blatant errors on the NEWS! For some, after seeing the same error over and over, they start to believe that what they are seeing is correct. Many people have gotten complacent in their writing, accepting of shortcuts and abbreviations, and lazy. They're often not even aware of it.

A Fresh Pair of Eyes
It’s difficult to edit your own material. Our brains have the ability to fill in the blanks and therefore not notice an error or omission. You need a fresh pair of eyes. After writing and rewriting, our brains have a tendency to register something as correct, fill in the blanks, and generally not see some errors. After awhile they all look corrrect, even when there not, and you don't actually sea (nor will a spell-checker all ways catch) wear their errors. For example, the sentence you just read is fraught with errors! It really should read "After a while, they all look correct, even when they're not, and you don't actually see (nor will a spell-checker always catch) where they're errors." The only error the spellchecker would have actually pinpointed is the 3 “Rs” in correct.

Everyone Needs an Editor/Proofreader
A proofreader would catch those pesky errors that hurt your credibility. A good editor will catch those errors and also help you with your readability. For example: "After a while, some errors may look correct even when they are not. You may not actually see (nor will a spell-checker always catch) certain errors."

Write from right
You need someone who will know that "alot" is not a word, "judgement" looks right but is wrong, and that they're going to use their knowledge to understand the difference between they're, there, and their. And, while we're on the subject, they need to know that its' is NOT a word in any context (even though a spell-checker does not recognize it as an error!). Your editor or proofreader should actually know when "all ways" is the correct term or if it should be "always"; he/she knows when to use "some times" and "sometimes", and when the word is "awhile" and when it really is "a while".

Follow my friend, Sharon Sutinen, on Twitter @VirtualSharon where she shares grammar tips and more!