Time and Space

Time and space, normally important things in our everyday life, of course, are actually even more important in writing.

When you finish a work, no matter whether that work is academic, creative, or whatever, it is important to put time and space between you and that work before you go into the content/mechanical editing phases of your work.

I recommend you put the work in a drawer and walk away, both mentally and physically. Start another work, read a book, go on vacation. Do anything but think about the work you just finished.

Your next step, the content edit (what you said) is all about objectivity. If you were to go right from writing into your content edit, you would be far too close (too subjective) to do an adequate job.

So, you put it away- the longer the work, the more time you need. When you come back to it, you will have a fresher eye with which to begin your first edits with.

Same goes for the next step: the mechanical edit (how you said it). Put your work away after the content edit, gain the time and space you need for an adequate eye to do the job that needs to be done.

With time and space you will gain the critical, objective perspective- the necessary perspective you need to edit your work!

© Ray Cattie