Editing:

How can I put this in the simplest of terms?  Editing has to be done like visiting the dentist or completing a tax return.  I was of these very opinions, the dentist could be kept at arms' length until all and any visit was going to be long and painful one.  Paying for it to be done can be, for beginners such as ourselves, very expensive and unnecessary in these early stages of our career. 

With effort and yes patience a reasonable result can be made and presented.

Step One:

Take one completed work, whether a five hundred word essay or one hundred thousand word novel.  This pride and joy of literary achievement does not need anything other than a few thousand readers and an agent out for film rights.  But ask yourself is this really what you think?  Is there an odd sentence which could be tweaked or word choice slightly out of line?  How about those wonderful tenses?

Yes you're right it could do with a once over and if you're doing that anyway, why not just  edit it properly?  Of course you can.

So step one in a nutshell is admitting that your master piece may need some polishing, or in my case grinding and cutting first.  It's hard to admit but you're already on the road to achieving a better piece of work.  If the reader isn't stumbling over bad grammar and spelling then they're enjoyment is doubled to say the least.

Step Two:

I'm sure there are books and books on this subject, but common sense would suggest a line of action which costs nothing but time and effort; though I might add at this point discipline.  Without the latter there is no point in starting.  You had it when you starte writing regain it for the editing.

You might say before you even get started attitude is key.  Get your mind in the right place and everything else will follow.

Step Three:

(1)After this everything else follows automatically.  As a writer you put your head down got on with it no doubt setting weekly or daily tallies.  Set yourself a similar target system whether words or pages even chapters.

If given you have written your piece on a computer then the simplest way to start is using whatever kind of spelling and grammar check your system has, but do not rely on it.  Nothing is fool proof.

I would say in my case that the spellcheck system I used declared several times that I too many mistakes to keep checking, just stick with it.  It's no surprise if at this point you find more mistakes than you expected.  It's going to get worse before it can get better, but stick in.

(2)The game is really a foot now.  You have done well.  Now read everything (aloud if possible) and listen to what you're saying.  It might have sounded fine in your head, but out loud is something different.  

(3)Personally I do this next step, but it's down to you.  I print off the finished work and go through it again.  

Three simple steps to editing.  Nothing complicated and if you're comfortable with this idea, pass the completed work out to friends and associates for a final buffing, but it's down to you.  And remember the more time you take over your work the better it should be.

As always if you have any additions please let me know:  russell.willens@btinternet.com