Method: Read Your Writing Backwards.

First, an apologetic note: I'm terribly sorry for missing Saturday's post. I was asleep most of Thursday and all of Friday, and also for what of Saturday that I wasn't at work, since I was struck with the flu.

Now, on to the method for today: Read your writing backwards. No, no—that does not mean you read it letter by letter so first becomes tsrif. That means you start at the end and read it one word at a time in the wrong direction.

Does that make it nonsensical? Yes. But the purpose of this particular technique is not to check for clarity, but to check to make sure the correct word was used. This method is particularly handy for catching errors like using their for there and desert for dessert.

I admit that I personally do not use this method, but I suggest the reader bear in mind that the Lord has blessed me in being very good at noticing details. I don't use this method because, by and large, I don't need to. That's me. I'm not you. You may find that this method does marvels for your writing.

In fact, if you're one of the many folks who tends to accidentally substitute some words for others, I'm pretty sure you will find this method particularly helpful.

Method: Read Aloud.

Nuh-uh, I know you're probably thinking. I don't really have to read my work aloud to proofread it…

That thought is true, strictly speaking. But if you want to proofread something well, reading it aloud is actually one of the easiest methods for catching your own mistakes. When you read something you've written, part of the difficulty in editing it is you remember what you wrote. You know what you were intending to write, so you're not as likely to notice when your intended "its" becomes "it's".

Reading aloud, however, makes you pay more attention to the actual words on the page, or at least the sounds of them spoken. If you've never done this, you'll be surprised how many wrong words and punctuation errors make themselves apparent just by taking the time to read the writing aloud.

An added benefit is the help it brings to actual phrasing of your writing. Let's say you're reading it aloud, and you stumble over an accidental tongue-twister—rewrite that part. The tongue-twister signals that the part is confusing as written. Also make sure you're breathing properly while speaking. Any time you run out of breath trying to get to the end of one looong sentence, find a way to cut that sentence into sections.

Notice that I'm not saying that you should read to someone. Go to your bedroom and mumble-read it in private. (If you have roommates, shutting yourself in a closet could provide some much-needed solitude.)

Can reading your work to someone help? Oh, most definitely. In certain circumstances involving certain types of people that you may or may not have in your circle of acquaintances. When I started writing at age fourteen, my eight-year-old friend started critiquing my writing while I read my work to her, she following along.

In general, though, reading aloud to no one but yourself will probably provide you the most effective proofreading of your own work that you'll get for the time spent doing it.

Ways to Proof Your Work

Starting next week, I'll get into the methods you can use to best proofread your writing. (Sorry for the almost non-post; work has been more understaffed than usual, this week.)

These methods that I will cover do work. You just have to be willing to take the time to do them. You also have to be at least mostly familiar with what the grammar handbook says about what you're writing.

If grammar rules toss you in an endless maze to read them, don't worry. These methods will still help you, though not to the degree of someone who understands what he's doing. There's even something you can find to help yourself, but I'll address that when we get there.

In short, before has gone the foundation. Now come the walls.

Tip #4: Don't Panic.

Tip #4: Don't panic.

The flip side to the impatient tossing off a first (or second) draft is done is nitpicking over every little line. Sure, that's how some great writers made their work so great, but if you're reading this blog, you're probably not a national celebrity for your writing skills.

All writing can be improved. Write that line in big, friendly yellow letters and paste it to your desk lamp. Whenever you realize you've spent the past hour fretting over imperfections in a few (hundred?) words of text, stare at those words and comfort yourself that yes, it can be improved.

Then move on to writing the next section

What??!! Leave your baby in its imperfect state, deformed and unable to walk on its own?

Yep. You've heard of braces, right? Braces guide and support a deformed thing till it approximates what it's supposed to be. Sometimes the approximation is closer to perfection than others. In my case, my orthodontist brought me a good bit of imperfection plus TMJ. At least my jaw's in the correct location, though.

That's your purpose as a writer: you're the braces for your writing. There comes a point where you have to let it go. Different writers end up having different criteria for what works for them, but if you find yourself naggling over a comma, get a move on to your next gestating project.

Writing improves through practice. You can't improve if you're constantly stuck fixing one thing.

The best critique comes from other people, anyway.

Tip #3: Take the Time.

Tip #3: Take the time.

Impatience might be a more powerful bane for writers than the unwillingness to delete material. Writers write a draft and want to be able to send it out ASAP—preferably yesterday. Their baby's done and is absolutely purrfect! (I'll be addressing the flip side on Wednesday.) And often the last thing a student wants to do is sit down and proofread the paper that he just got done as quickly as he could to get it over with.

And often the last thing a student wants to do is sit down and proofread the paper that he just got done as quickly as he could to get it over with. But for editing and proofreading your own work (and for getting a nice grade), having time to spare is required.

Now, admittedly, in some cases like blog posts or articles-for-hire (or a paper written at the last minute), you may not always have the time to wait before proofreading your work. I often don't get a chance to proofread my blog posts here—something I could avoid if I could consistently keep the next three posts written, but I'm still working on that.

When you can't afford the time, at least be aware that you won't give your work the best edit you possibly can. Editing takes time.

Not just the time it takes to reread and mark corrections. You also need at least a day to wait, without reading your work, to gain some distance from it. If your memory's unusually good or if you've spent quite a long time writing it, that day requirement will have to be expanded.

The point of the wait isn't to make you want to avoid procrastinating. No, you need that time apart from what you wrote to forget what you intended to write and see what you actually wrote. To see what someone else will read.

Tip #2: Be Willing to Delete.

Tip #2: Be willing to delete.

Yep, you have to be willing to hit that painful Delete key. You may compulsively save every version of every thing you write, but for the final version, you must be willing and able to delete material. Sometimes, you'll have to delete everything you've written so far and start over.

Ow, that hurts. Especially when it's a pet novel you've been working on for three years and love some of the characters, it hurts. But if you're not willing to delete, willing to admit that okay, you need to start over to actually have something good in your hands, you won't grow as a writer.

The first time can be the hardest. Your writing's your baby—you wouldn't kill your baby, would you? (If your answer is "Yes," I seriously don't want to know.)

But deleting a section or even scrapping an idea isn't killing your "baby" that's your writing. It's giving it a bath or sending it out to school. That bit of writing that you've had to delete has taught you something; why did you have to delete it?

This is where having critical friends can be so useful. You have to learn to take their (usually justifiably) harsh critique and not take it personally, and endeavor to actually do something about the problems they've found. Sometimes it takes others' proofing and editing of your work to learn what you need to proof and edit.

Pay attention to those lessons, be willing to learn them, and you'll be well on your way to becoming able to edit your own writing.

Tip #1: Keep the Grammar Handbook Handy.

Tip #1: Keep the grammar handbook handy.

Even if (you think) you already know the grammar rules, this can be a must. In fact, you'll probably want a few—different rules vary with sources, most noticeably the serial comma and the spacing around an em-dash.

(Don't sweat it if you're thinking "Huh?"—you're in the majority even among people who can apply grammar well. Being able to work with something and knowing the specific terms for it are two separate things.)

To demonstrate what I'm referring to about the differing rules, the following example sentence is correct by United States standards in both ways I've written it below.

1. Gothic, symphonic, and Christian rock—these are my favorite genres of music.
2. Gothic, symphonic and Christian rock — these are my favorite genres of music.

The first one is correct according to The Chicago Manual of Style, and the second one is preferred by the AP Stylebook. The company where I work prefers a hybrid. As you can see, I prefer the serial comma, that comma before the and in the list of three or more items, and the lack of spaces around the em dash, that long dash.

That's why the handbook should always be kept on hand—the grammar handbook preferred by whoever you're writing for. That way, you can double-check the rules for that person or those people. Journalism-type situations tend to prefer the AP Stylebook, with print ones preferring The Chicago Manual of Style, and schools often prefer yet another source leaning one way or the other.

And then there's the factor that, if you write enough, you're probably going to end up with one of those wacky sentence situations where you just can't figure out how it should be punctuated. (The rules for those tend to vary widely, too, and are largely a matter of personal taste.)

If you don't like keeping handbooks on hand or dislike how quickly they can become outdated, the sites for many grammar handbooks offer special Internet versions of their handbooks at reasonable prices for year-long subscriptions.

Here I Am!

"Here I am, once again"—back, and hopefully for the long haul. Please accept my apologies, everyone. Illness + a new eyestrain-causing job + 9-hour days, 6 days per week at work once my eyes got used to it means my e-mail has barely been checked in the past six weeks, much less anything else.

But work's lightening up, so here I am. Rather than try to salvage the last two months, I'm going to let 'em flop and worry about what's ahead rather than behind. With that goal in mind, this month's theme is proofreading. (Something I'm quite qualified to chatter on, considering I'm now paid rather well to do it!)

Each post on this theme will feature a tip that can or will help you proofread your own material. Other people are still the best proofers of your work, but you don't always have that option. So if you want to learn how to proofread your own work, stay tuned!

My schedule will probably change from my previous Wednesday-Saturday updates, but I'm still hammering out those details.

Thank you so much for your patience and readership!