Constant Content

Hi,

I am having a diffucult time editing my own articles. For some reason I am reading exactly what I am thinking in my head instead of what is on the paper or screen. I have tried printing out the article and reading it outloud. Sometimes I can catch the mistakes and sometimes not. I would appreciate any helpful ideas or software that assists with this. I use Word and it does not seem to be helpful. My sister has been helping me with my editing, but she has two babies and often time there are not enough hours in the day for her to get to reading my work. I can't even explain the doors Constant Content has opened for me and I do not want to jeapordize it because of simple errors. Even though this is not a full time income for me, being a single mom, ANY little bit helps. I get excited when the opportunity arises to write about new sujects and my brain just works faster than my fingers. Anyone have helpful ideas?

Thank you in advance

Breidi, you need to wait before submitting so that you can look at your articles with a fresh eye.

To be honest, the quality of your articles has not been up to CC's standards lately. When certain words are substituted for other words, this shows lack of careful proofreading. I understand your desire to improve, but please do not submit articles until you are *sure* that they are free of capitalization, spelling, and grammar errors. Otherwise, your time is wasted as well as mine. This is not fair to othe authors who submit consistently error-free work.

I am not trying to come down hard on you - I am simply trying to emphasize that meeting CC's standards is extremely important for all authors.

Thank you,
Ed

Briedi

I know that's Ed's advice is sound and that it's always best to leave an article once you've finished it and go back after a while with a 'fresh eye, but I also understand that sometimes that's not 'realistic'. For example, if you're writing an article for a request and you want to get it in quick to give yourself as best a chance you can, then it's very difficult to wait a day or so to finalise an article. But it *is* good advice!

I often have to edit articles once I've submitted them and they're still in the 'review' stage of the submission process; and I also find it very difficult to read an article once it's been cleared in case I'm not entirely happy with what I've written.

Have you tried using the 'readplease' software which Lenin suggested in another post? It's free to download and can be useful.

Jane

I am going to download readplease as soon as I get home and try it out. My biggest problem is my eyes see what my brain is thinking. Though I consistantly go over and over the articles I read what I want them to say. I do not mean to submit articles with errors, I honestly think they read like I have them laid out in my head.

In cases where waiting is not always as option as you mentioned, if I wait and do not sell the article then I have to wait and hope someone else needs the same thing.

I don't think I have a problem with my content, because I am very pleased with the amount of money I have made here. I would rather PAY someone an extra percentage to edit than keep having articles rejected. I send them over to my sister (the one with the babies..lol) most of the time for editing. This week I was trying to edit myself again, without much avail. I will try readplease and hope that works. Otherwise I will just go back to letting my sister edit and hope she can squeeze time in her schedule to help me out.

I think most of my errors have been simple stupid and I would have caught them if I was reading someone else's work. Maybe laying the ones that are not on a timeline down will help as well. I have hope that readplease will help.

I appreciate your advice Jane! Hope you have a great day!

Breidi

Breidi

I do know what you mean about someone else's eye catching the things you don't. I can re-edit an article over and over and then give it to my partner to check and he will catch stuff that I've *still* missed. That's just the way it is, I guess.

Jane

Try and read the article backwards. i often find misspelled words that way.

Jane, I understand where you are coming from, but for authors who have trouble editing their own work, waiting a day to submit content is the only realistic thing to do. No one is going to get work in ahead of anyone else if it contains errors. Hurried authors end up shooting themselves in the foot.

Customers who need content quickly shoot themselves in the foot as well. I have rejected 85% of articles for the current request for "articles - fast" simply because authors were hurried. I can always tell when an author has written an article in a couple of hours, or late at night when they are tired, and submitted without sufficient proofreading. This isn't a best practice.

Ed

Ed

Fair point - and I understand what you're saying. I was thinking about that particular public request -- 'need articles - fast' -- when I posted my messages. It is very tempting when you see a request up like that, to write an article quickly and submit it. I suppose in some ways that we authors do take a bit of a chance when we know ourselves that in writing, self-editing, and submitting an article, all within a couple of hours, there's more chance that it will be rejected. But, as I say, it is tempting to do just that!

And so much for needing articles fast, eh....? I haven't seen any sold for that request yet!

Jane

"And so much for needing articles fast, eh....? I haven't seen any sold for that request yet!"

I thought the same thing!

Ed

I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss this one though. I suspect this is our old friend who bought tons of "records search" articles a couple of years ago....same first name too.

Celeste, I thought that, too. Or maybe I'm just trying to jump on the "great minds" train.

I did want to add that I am always more than happy to expedite reviews of articles. I would rather get up at 3am to get articles that have been submitted late reviewed for a customer who needed them that day than have to reject error-heavy articles submitted in a hurry.

Ed

Wow Ed. 3 am. Now that is dedicated.

I downloaded readplease and caught WAY more errors. Thanks for that suggestion!
When I heard someone else reading the words, I could hear what I was doing wrong easier.

After *polishing* my articles, ED you are definatly right. After waiting and looking at them again, I feel better about the quality as well as the content.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Breidi

breidi,

I see your problem because I have experienced it myself. You know, Ed might not have rejected any others' work more than he did mine. If you read one of my first posts here, you will know what I mean. I used to have a lot of errors , obvious ones which I missed. I then even asked others like you did here, to get ideas of proofreading and editing better. And some suggestions I got. I now make articles and get them accepted usually the first time itself.

What I do these days for this purpose is get the larger font. I use times roman 20 pt for proofreading and actually creating my article. I catch way too many punctuation errors with it. Also awkward wording, and all. It is extremely helpful. At first I used to have verdana 10 pt, which looks really good on word. I actually hated to see times roman. But larger size times is really exciting. It will definitely help you find errors.

Lenin

I am using readplease and enlarging the font, which ya know dummy me I never thought of. I have been catching way more errors by listening to another voice read it out loud to me WRONG. I think editing will always be difficult for me, but I love writing. I am not ready by any means to give up. I belive it is just a challenge I will have to deal with and rather than be rushed about articles, I am just going to have to read and re-read and re-read until I am comfortable. I also try to write late at night when the house is quite. I am a single mom that has a full time job and I homeschool my son, help take care of my grandma, and write to. Writing keeps me sane. Editing drives me crazy...lol. I appreciate all the helpful suggestions as I have genuinely tried them all and hope my editing improves.
Have a Blessed Day!
Breidi