Short Description:
Editing is an integral part of the writing process. This workshop will examine the most common mistakes writers make, and explain how to elevate writing to a professional level through an effective editing process.

Background and Detailed Description:
Writers traffic in ideas and emotions, but use language as their tool of communication. Too often poor technique — dull and amateurish tools, one might say — interferes with the communication of their ideas. Meanwhile, professional-grade prose is easy to recognize for those with ‘eyes to see.’ Most fundamentally, it is correct, clear, and compelling.

Producing such writing may be a simple goal, but that doesn’t make it easy. In fact, it takes discipline, knowledge, and hard work — and it usually involves a whole team of people.  No one can write perfect polished prose on the first try; it only emerges on the editing floor. Learning to edit, then, is crucial to your development as a writer. This workshop will examine the most common mistakes writers make, and explain how to elevate your writing to a professional level through an effective editing process.

The workshop will point to resources on grammar and mechanics without getting lost in their minutia. Instead, the focus will be on techniques for effective personal editing, and how to assemble a team of supportive readers and editors.

View or download this workshop’s handout on Common Grammar Pitfalls.
View this workshop’s Editing Manifesto.