In this issue of Make Mondays Great Again I’m going to make text editing feel like play.

In earlier issues I wrote about how to tackle the blank page. Now I’m going to tell you what to do after that.

The reason why you would want to learn editing is so you can turn your writing from good to better. And if you ask some of the best writers in the world, they would tell you that writing is re-writing. 

Which means that you’re not done when you finish the first draft. you have only put down the words and filled out your mental outline.

Now is the point when you truly get to make something great.

Many people don’t get past the 1st draft. I know I’ve not gone beyond the first draft many times before. But, I have seen with my own eyes the difference it can make.

You’ll never know how great you can be.

Most beginning writers never get the feeling that their writing is any good.

I’m here to tell you that most experienced writers look at their own first draft the same way. They’ve just come to understand after years of practice that a mediocre first draft can be turned into an amazing piece of writing.

By following my Draft Transition Framework you’ll have an easy checklist of how to move from your first draft to your second draft.

I’m going to go through the steps with you know.

But I’m not gonna waste your time. If you just want the framework up front, I’ll give it to you here:

If you want to dive deeper into how these steps actually work for me, then keep reading.

Step 1: Vomit on the page

The first step is not new to you, if you’ve read the earlier issues.

What I mean by vomiting on the page is that you need to be writing so fast that the words land onto the page almost as fast as you can think them. Don’t worry if it’s good or terrible. Just get the words onto the page.

This is the reason we have an editing framework in the first place. And you can’t edit what isn’t written.

So get those words onto the page and out of your head.

You’ll start to see what’s working and what needs more work. And you can’t work on what isn’t there. Especially if you’re doing some form of storytelling. The whole story might seem too large or complicated when it’s inside your head.

Getting it onto the page, you’ll start to see the inner workings more clearly. And you’ll see what kind of tools you can use to fix your mistakes.

Step 2: Split into sections

This step is something I learned from writing academically.

When I write an exam paper I have to go through a lot of points. And if I’m staring at a large document where all of the text is tied together I have a hard time distinguishing each point on it’s own.

This applies if you’re writing a long text or a short text. A story or a university paper. Also if you’re writing a short form post on X or any kind of social media.

Split the text into sections, and focus on each section on its own.

Make sure that each section has a meaning on its own.

Step 3: Question the validity of each section

Once you’ve split up the sections, it’s time to value them separately.

Look at each sections and ask yourself these questions:

What is the reason of this section?

Is this section making its own point?

Is this section understandable?

Is it unique?

Or does it say something that an other section is already saying?

Step 4: Question the placement

Now look at the structure of your text.

Are all of the sections in the right order? Could you move them around to form your argument or lead the reader through the text in a better way?

You can also consider if there’s stuff you want to keep a secret until a later part in the text.

This is especially useful when creating some sort of suspense, either in fiction writing, or when writing a longer post. Hint a solution or an answer in the beginning and make sure that the reader will read all the way to the end.

Step 5: Make every sentence sound good

Now it’s time to make sure that all of your sentences sound good individually.

Ask yourself these questions:

Is this sentence too long or complicated?

Is the point of the sentence clear?

Could I structure it differently to make the point stand out even further?

Does it sound good?

You can quickly find out if a sentence sounds good, when you read it aloud.

So remember to keep this technique as part of your editing.

Step 6: Check grammar and spelling mistakes

Once you’re done with all the other steps, you should focus on grammar and spelling mistakes.

Don’t do it before. That would be a waste of time, since you’ll probably end up changing a lot afterwards. And you would then need to go through and edit for grammar and spelling again.

One of the things that I look for the most in my writing, as a non-native speaker and writer in English, is if the tenses are right.

Sometimes I tend to use Are instead of is or the other way around. Also when it comes to verb conjugation, I might use a verb in the wrong tense.

These are all good stuff to be looking out for.

And there are a ton of tools online that will help you look for grammar and spelling mistakes.

Weekly Resource

This week’s weekly resource is a short video of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin talking about the importance of a second draft.

I’ve written screenplays before, and it’s a different kind of storytelling than regular fiction writing.

But it’s writing nonetheless. And the lessons that you learn from someone like Aaron Sorkin are helpful no matter what type of writing you do.

Weekly Highlight

Free Resources

• My Ultimate Guide for Building an Email Newsletter

• The Content Creation List (Template)

• The Newsletter Template

• Medium Article (Template)

Until next time…

This week’s issue is a bit longer than usual.

But, hope you found some of the techniques useful 😃