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13 Ways To Turn The Next Thing You Write Into The Best Thing You’ve Written

What to do after you write and before you publish.

You wrote something — congratulations!

Now, let’s make it better.

1. Remove 10% of the words.

No matter how succinct your writing, a 10% reduction in words is not only possible, but likely to improve what you wrote.

Bonus points if you remove 20%.

2. Make the middle the beginning (or not).

If you were forced to shift a few sentences from the middle of what you wrote to the beginning of your piece, which portion would you choose?

Does it make for a more compelling opening?

If so, make it your new intro. If not, move on to the next exercise.

3. Compare your first and last paragraphs.

Do they reflect each other or did you lose your way somewhere in the course of writing?

Your opening and closing don’t need to say the exact same thing, but there should be a clear relationship between them.