If It's Not Perfect This Happens

Writing is only part of the job done

Hi, Kelly Eden here from Medium.

Here’s something most people don’t know about me—for a long time I coached swimming instead of writing!

In my first year as a swimming coaching, I really struggled to fill my 30 minute lessons. It was painful! I knew what I needed to teach but felt completely clueless half the time.

But I’m a passionate learner, so I put my hand up for every course that came along. By the time I finished my 10 year swim coaching career my lessons were packed. 30 minutes was never enough time!

Writing is like that too. When you start out, you write a draft but it feels off. You know it’s not right, but what’s missing? What do the professionals know that you don’t?

Here’s one very important thing they know:

The draft is only 1/5 of the work.

The main part of your job is still to come.

New writers pump out a draft and feel like they’re done. As an editor, I often get drafts send in to me. How do I know?

They’re full of errors.

They have repeated phrases and missing words.

They’re unfocused, and have long, waffly introductions.

Editing is where the magic happens! Experienced writers know this and go over their work again and again before they send it away for publication.

If you want to look professional, learn everything you can about editing. Your work will be far more likely to get published.

Here’s an article I wrote to get you started:

Improve Your Article in 5 Minutes with 3 Simple Edits