When I write something new, I always press the “publish” button too soon. It doesn’t matter what it is I’m writing. It could be a new blog post, a comment or maybe even an email. Here’s a doozy of an example:
I received a positive response from an editor I had queried for an article idea. I was SO excited. Of course I immediately responded. A little later I had a look at the email reply I had sent. In part I wrote, “I would be very interesting in doing this article.” My heart sank. Nothing like leaving a good first impression. All of a sudden I was working in a content mill in India, still brushing up on my english. To this day I cringe a little when I think about that incident.
The only thing that gives me any comfort is that I am not special or unique. I’m sure that most every writer – or non-writers for that matter – have done the same thing.
There is this magic transition that happens when what you’ve written goes from the writing interface program to “live” status. I will read and re-read every word of a post, decide it’s good to go and publish away. I immediately go to the site and have a look (As a writer, I LOVE to see my stuff in print) and I will almost always find a typo or two. I have to wonder if there maybe isn’t a typo generator plug-in I inadvertently installed to my theme…
Key Strategies
Here are a few of the things I’ve learned to save myself some headache and heartache:
- Slow the heck down. It’s easy to think that cyberspace is waiting with bait-like-breath for your next brilliant offering, but really, it’s not. Will it make a difference if you hit the submit button now or ten minutes from now? Of course not. Take a deep breath and relax.
- Read your words aloud. Try it! It’s a great way to discover if your grammar makes sense. It also forces you to look at every word. When you are reading to yourself something that you wrote, your mind tends to skim over words.
- Print it out. Get it off the computer screen and on to paper. Any typos will Ka-Pow you right away.
- Put it away for a day. When you come back I guarantee it will look fresh and you may have a different perspective completely.
- Whatever it is you wrote, you didn’t get it perfect in the first draft. Go kill your darlings and cut 10% of your word count. Get rid of extra words or sentences that detract from your message.
- Get a second opinion. This is crucial if you are submitting to an editor or a client. Get a proofing buddy to help you. Print out your work and have your spouse or roomie proof your work.
Don’t be afraid of revising and re-writing. It puts polish on your work and is a crucial element of being a professional writer.
My most common method of “publishitis” (publishing too soon) is the “wait a day” technique. Don’t always have an extra day, but there it is.
I’ve never actually tried reading out loud; always seemed strange to be talking to myself like that. On the other hand, but it might be a good way to keep people from bothering me at lunchtime.
Robert Hruzek´s last blog post..What I Learned From… the Generosity of Others
Hey George,
Good tips, I always read it and re-read it but not out loud. I will try that next time. Can I mumble it somewhat out loud?
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You’re right; it does help to slow down. When I get a post done I get really anxious to post it, but I know that if I just slow down and read it first it will result in a much more polished end product. Type, breathe, reread…
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“Publishitis” looks like a four-letter word to me … George, it’s good to know I have a classmate in the ready, fire, aim school of editing. SLOW DOWN! That should be on a neon sign in front of my keyboard. Great post.
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Dang. Yeah, well… you never said anything about doin’ it for comments, y’know.
Typo generator plugin…lol!…I love it:)
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@Dee: Your stuff is so awesome, you should shout it from the rooftops!
@Robert: Publishitis – That’s great. Have you considered writing comedy?
@Webdesi3: Geez if you wanted to develop that ap…
@AverageGal: I can see it now: TaiChi for writers!
@Brad: I’m thinking of installing a speed limit sign…
Comedy? Y’know; Mrs. MZM tells me I’m “a funny man”. I have no idea what she means, though. :-\
Great stuff! I’ve been known to publish too soon, too. Recently, I submitted a 2,000+ word piece to my editor. I had written, proofed, re-written, polished, proofed, and STILL I found a mistake after I had sent it off! I used the word here in place of hear. It’s still driving me bonkers! UGH!
And, I always notice typos and stuff after I publish a blog post. Isn’t it always that way?
*smiles*
Michele
Michele´s last blog post..5 Tips for Writing a Quality Article That Will Leave Editors and Clients Salivating for More!
Michele,
Arrghh. I feel your pain! As soon as I print/publish, there they are! I’m tellin’ ya, there is a typo plug-in…
George
Great advice…sometimes you can get so amped to get great content published you forget to slow down, check your work, and make sure it’s complete/error free before the world sees it.
Thanks,
Matt
Must be, George. It’s a conspiracy against our sanity and online presence! LOL
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I always notice the typos after I’ve published the article too. My favorites are the comment typos – I do it all the time. I don’t notice them until I hit submit. And I’m like, “oh great – my comment was kind of lame and now I look like an idiot too.”
But please, please don’t print out the article just to proofread it …
Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..Stuff This in Your RSS – 12/02/08 – Eleblog
Hi Kim,
Why no printy? Paper/environment?
Oh, yeah, the comments always get me – but usually on obscure sites like Problogger.net or CopyBlogger…
George
Yeah – the paper/environment.
Kim Woodbridge´s last blog post..Stuff This in Your RSS – 12/02/08 – Eleblog
Oh, ok. I have an agreement with a local business to come by and get their stack of 8.5×11 papers that they would otherwise recycle. I use the back of them to print any non-essential stuff, then into my recycle bin it goes!
George
I used to do all my writing right from WordPress – now I do it in Word – and I feel slightly more confident in the grammatical quality. However, I am still fully arrogant about the quality of the content.
Matthew Dryden´s last blog post..She Was Gravity Twisted
Hi Matthew, I appreciate you stopping by. There’s no getting around it. Quality is king. I can stomach an innocent typo here or there but if something is littered with the darn things I just go away…
George
Hi George,
It really does hurt when you realize you made a grammar or spelling mistake. So glad many bloggers have the Ajax comment edit plugin. (hint, hint).
You are right though. To be a great writer your have got to be a great editor. Or, have a good one edit your writing. Good stuff!
Cheers,
Jeremy
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Jeremy,
Hehe. Don’t have to hit ME over the head to get a hint…
I’ll download the plug-in tomorrow!
Cheers!
George
Ah yes I am a victim of my own enthusiasm on occasion(most often). Then I’ll vane-ly go back and read my own press and discover those pesky typos. Sometimes I’ll correct and re-publish and other times I chock them up to, well my quirkiness.
Hi Debo Hobo,
Nice to see you here. Ya know, quirky kinda works for me sometimes too!
Cheers
George
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Hey George
I like your catchy title, “Write, write and rewrite.” It’s true you will never get it right on the first draft. I usually spent 60% of my time “beautifying” the first draft. I’m yet to perfect the art of write and publish in one sitting.. oh yeah, we all need to slow the heck down. Wonderful writing, George.
Yan
Blog for Beginners´s last blog post..Duplicate Content: Penalty or Policy?
Yan,
Thanks for the great comments! I’m headed over to subscribe and enter into the contest!
George
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Good points all around. On the topic of re-writing, I’ve also found these tips to be helpful.
Cheers!
Deliah,
Thanks for coming over and commenting. The HTML didn’t show in the comment area so I’ll just put the link in here:
http://polimedia.us/Business_Online/
I agree that reading aloud works. I don’t know why, but it does. Also, there is something about reading someone else’s work that just draws your eyes to the mistakes. So, letting someone else read it is also a good idea. Just be ready to swallow a bit of pride as they point out all the mistakes you thought you didn’t make.
About mistakes in the comments section, those are the worst because you can’t edit them. With a blog, paper, or twitter, you can go in and edit. A comment is permanent. Fortunately everyone makes them and just give a little sigh of relief when they see that others make them too.
Tabetha´s last blog post..Winter Wonderland
Hi Tabetha,
Thanks for coming over and commenting. My keenest editing skills come into play immediately after hitting “submit” or “publish” or “enter”. I think it’s a law of the universe
Cheers!
George
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Hi George,
I cant agree with you more! I also have a tendency to push the “Send” button too soon and then re-read it…there have been many occasions I cringe on seeing the typos and immediately know I would’nt get a reply…but these tips are great! Thanks!
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Hi Shilpa.
Thanks for coming by and commenting. I don’t know why it is that things don’t seem to show up until then! Gremlins, I think
Cheers
George
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Excellent advice on every point. And, yes, I’m sure we all have those cringeful moments where we look back on an email sent in excited haste. I know I do, even though I almost always proofread my emails before sending.
I’m a huge believer in viewing my writing in a new setting as a way to pick up on bloopers. Printing out the page is great. Print Preview in Word is great. The Preview button in anything . . . I cannot live without!
I love to use the Preview button in my blogging software. I will look at a draft post a dozen times–and still see something I missed the first eleven times as I made corrections and hit Preview. But the good news: the more you get into the swing of editing in a different view, the faster it becomes.
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Hi Milli!
Thanks for coming by and contributing.
My best vision almost always comes into play once it is published! I do review quite a bit but it seems like there is always one that sneaks through.
I’ve also heard that reading it backwards from the end works well.
Cheers
George
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