Creative Versus Critical Eyes: Why It's So Hard to Edit Your Own Writing

This post is part of our Self-Publishing Series, designed to provide important information for writers considering the editorial responsibilities, benefits and costs associated with publishing their own work. For details on available editing services or to learn more about getting your writing into print, contact PJC Editing for a free editorial consultation.

ALSO IN THE SELF-PUBLISHING SERIES

What is Proofreading? An Overview of Editing's Final Stage

Creative Versus Critical Eyes: Why It's So Hard to Edit Your Own Writing

The Difference Between Writing and Self-Publishing a Book

Proofreading is More Than Spotting Spelling Errors and Tossing Typos

Problems Arise When "Someone" Edits Your Work

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You can be a fantastic writer.

You can be a fabulous editor.

It's impossible to be both while working on the same project.

This might sound like a writing-world cliché or a ploy for an editor to separate writers from their money, but it's not. How do I know? Because I'm a published writer and a professional editor, and when I edit my own work — I'll admit it — I often let a few catchable items fall through the cracks.

These are almost always small oversights, and if my work is being submitted to a publication, the editor there will usually clean them up. But as someone who takes pride in accuracy and precision when editing, it's frustrating.

Last month I wrote a feature piece for a magazine. My writing process tends to be measured and meticulous. I stop and start and often reread segments to make sure I'm comfortable with the tone, the cadence and the sequencing before moving ahead. I probably read this particular piece in full or in large parts a few dozen times before sending it out.

Here's what happens when you edit your own work:

Your critical eye isn't entirely focused. The words on the page are incredibly familiar — you've thought about them over and over, you've built the sentences and paragraphs from scratch, you've written them out.

You are looking at the piece with creative eyes, not critical ones.

So you gloss over common words, articles and phrases.

You get attached to certain imagery or descriptions even if they've fallen out of place.

You see depth and meaning when they aren't really there.

You need an editor.

In my piece, while doing another post-submission reread (with critical eyes taking back some authority from the creative ones), I noticed a few things I should have picked up.

• I used the word "elevated" twice in the span of three sentences. Now, "elevated" is a common word when writing about golf and golf courses, but it still should have been avoided.

• I left "a" out of the sentence: "...a par-3 at #17 followed by a massive par-5 closer." So instead it read: "a par-3 at #17 followed by massive par-5 closer."

• A similar mistake where I left out "the," as in: "...and later a consultant on the county course renovations."

Remember what I said about glossing over words and articles?

Self-editing is an important part of the writing process (and the self-publishing process, if you're taking a book down that road), but it doesn't replace the work and the value of a professional editor — no matter how accomplished you are as both a writer and an editor.