If you are happy with your writing, then there is no need to read further. But if you are worried about the mistakes that you make and appearing foolish to other people or a larger audience on social media and at work, then perhaps you should consider an editor looking at your writing and helping you. Of course, there are some people who write very well and don’t need an editor to look over their work. Perhaps they have learned how to self-edit. But most people would only be too pleased to have someone go over their work and correct mistakes, grammatical errors, misspellings, punctuation, and so on.
Watch out for this:
There are many finer points in writing. Let’s take one such as repetition. How repetitive are you in your writing, what words do you regularly use and keep repeating in the same email or other document you are writing. Do you go over your work to check for this, and that’s just one thing. What about the words that you use — are you using the most impactful verbs or will any old verb to try propel your writing? There’s a big difference between hitting an axe or smashing an axe into a piece of wood. The first verb is a runner-the-mill one, whereas the second describes the force with which you are using the axe to yield a strong blow on the piece of wood. Active verbs can make the difference between dull writing and interesting or even exciting writing.
Where quality counts:
When your writing is done to reach a larger audience, it pays to be careful about the quality of your writing. People judge you by your writing more so sometimes than the spoken word. It depends of course on the company you keep, but most people aren’t too concerned if you use words incorrectly while you are talking, if you pronounce them incorrectly, and you use a word where another one would be more apt. The spoken word is more forgiving — not so with the written word where people will immediately judge you. They’ll think, what level of education does this person have? Is this just sloppy writing? Did the person take any care with their writing? Is this person an idiot? It’s amazing too how people will judge you on spelling. If you spell a word incorrectly, they’ll pick it up straight away and wonder what care you took with your writing.
If you believe that you are very good at self-editing, then, as I said, you wouldn’t need an editor to look at your work. But if you are concerned about your writing, perhaps an editor might be useful and could save you a lot of trouble and embarrassment. I think if you are working for an organization and you write poorly, you will certainly be judged by your level of fluency in the written word. This is where an editor can help you behind the scenes to help polish your writing and get it into a state that makes you look good. It would be rather embarrassing if your HR manager or your boss suggested to you that you improve your writing and, worst of all, send you on a course to brush up your writing because they have identified that your writing level needs improvement. Rather identify your weaknesses yourself and do something about it. If you need help with editing, please let me know by contacting me via this website and I will see if I can assist you.
