The best thing about having a personal blog – you can trash all the rules of writing 🙂

Just wanted to add this line. Shall begin my post now. Mark Twain is God for editors I would say. Here’s why:

The time to begin an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. ~ Mark Twain

So how does editing make me more human? For that, let’s get to – what makes me more human? You remember the phrase “To err is human. To admit is superhuman.” Since I don’t feel like being superhuman, I will settle for human 🙂

Editing makes me admit my mistakes. It makes me understand – I have a long way to go. It keeps me in place, lets me know where I stand. It makes sure I don’t get complacent with my writing ever. If I were to edit my earlier blog posts again, I would probably want to stop writing altogether. So there – editing also tells me how much I have grown. As a writer. As a person.

Image courtesy: Nic McPhee)

Because when I edit, I see my own emotions. I get to figure out whether I am confused or clear, angry or calm, whether I have depression or charm. When I edit, it’s like I am looking at a mirror. And a very clean one at that (HD too if possible!).

I write to teach myself what I already know (Duane Alan Hahn) . And editing is like revision. The more you revise, the finer you become. The finer your become, the better you are as a human.

I try to write well, often. And I fail at it miserably. I am now trying to improve as a rewriter. And I know for a fact that every good writer has a lot of trouble writing. Editing is what saves them. Every time. Like the Qs and Us sticking together all the time, writing and editing go hand in hand.

Edit. If you are a writer, always edit. Skip things you know people won’t read. Heavier, high on vocab energy words are easy to get attached to. Use them well but don’t get too attached to them – My biggest lesson while editing! Even the Bhagawad Gita preaches us to not get attached. Looks like what we see in editing is just the tip of the iceberg 🙂

Logic, clarity, reason, purpose, brevity, direction, a new lesson in every updated draft, love for writing and much more, which my brain eludes me right now (probably editing will do the trick) – is what editing gives me.

And that’s why I edit. It makes me more human.

Ending with Mark Twain again (his awesomeness just does not end) :

Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~ Mark Twain

P.S – This is the 4th & final draft of the original piece of crap that I had written (every 1st draft is like that).