How to Do a Quick and Dirty Last-Minute Edit
Quick tips for editing copy under the gun
A manager at my first marketing job once watched me edit a blog post live by following my cursor on a Google Doc. She was appalled. Apparently, it was chaotic and disturbing to watch me jump around in what appeared to be random patterns, cutting a sentence here, changing a word there.
I swear, there is a method to my madness.
I first learned to copy edit at sixteen, from the editor at a local magazine I sometimes wrote for on a freelance basis. God knows why she was willing to employ an angsty teen like me, but I’m grateful for the experience to this day. Under her instruction I learned about how to write strong ledes, conduct good interviews, and keep my work concise. She was a tough editor, returning each draft blanketed with criticism and changes. I learned by writing, then re-writing, then re-writing again.
Then I went to journalism school, where we were expected to deliver that same quality, but much, much quicker under the pressure of same-day deadlines. Once again, my drafts would come back completely saturated with red squiggles, strike-throughs and comments scrawled in the margins (journalism profs love constructive criticism such as what does this mean and ??????). It was brutal but effective way to learn about…
