Learning to love being edited

By Semaj Earl (Los Angeles, CA)

The frustrating process of having your articles edited, and re-edited again, is long and painful. In fact, it almost takes longer for your pieces to be edited than it takes to write them. Often, different editors also have different ideas about what the article should sound like. The changes made by an editor the first time may be changed again by other editors later. Although it takes time and patience to deal with the multiple (and sometimes redundant) revisions, in the end it’s all worth it for the perfect final draft.

In a way, the frustration and debate about word placement, grammar, and sentence construction, make the final product something to feel proud about.

A typical editing process consists of an article being firsted and seconded. In my particular case, I had an article of mine thirded when I thought I was done, but not only did it drastically increase my word count, it increased the quality of my article tenfold, despite my humorous constant debate with my third editor. Editing helps you prepare to write better in the future and reminds you that there is always room for improvement.