A friend recently had a tendon repaired. In the weeks leading up to surgery, it was brutally painful and seriously debilitating for her. She was told that the days and weeks post-surgery will be pretty much the same.
But soon the pain and swelling will subside. Then she’ll be able to bear a little weight on her foot. Then a little more. And a little more.
After that, she’ll start physical therapy, followed by a carefully monitored walking program, and eventually be able to run again (as if she ever did). She should, if all goes according to plan, have a full recovery. I’m glad my friend finally stopped hobbling around, hoping and wishing the pain would go away. I’m glad she finally went to see a physician for a proper diagnosis and now repair.
Sometimes, that’s how we are with our writing.
We pretend nothing’s going on.
We ignore the signs.
We act as if nobody will notice.
Wrong.
Sometimes you must acknowledge the obvious (that something’s not working) and then you gotta fix it. Sometimes the fix is with a bandage (quick rewrite); and sometimes the fix is with a scalpel (heavy editing).
Either way, here are three ways to perform surgery on copy that’s sorely lacking, hurting, or broken:
#1 Question everything.
Read with a hypercritical eye and grill yourself with questions like these:
- Does it belong?
- Does it make sense?
- Is something missing?
- Is the focus clear or confusing?
- Is everything accurate?
#2 Compress it.
Keep key elements but cut the clutter by replacing,reworking or rewording as much as possible.
#3 Kill the little darlings.
You may love the word, the phrase or the paragraph, but if it doesn’t fit perfectly, give it the ax. You can always save it for another article, page or project. Hint: Save everything because you never know when you might need it. I keep a swipe file of great content from other writers, as well as my own brainstorm docs.