Would you let someone look over your shoulder while writing?

Writing is a solitary activity. You’re the one putting the words on the page and need your space from the rest of the world to do it. No one is there in your head to share the activity with you. Someone may be sitting in the room with you, but you’re not really doing it together.

But what if someone was looking over your shoulder the entire time, seeing every word you scribbled on the page and then, many times, deleted? What if they saw how you chopped an entire section because it didn’t work?

That’s what one writer is doing with Google Docs. Silvia Hartmann has opened her document with the entire world to watch. They can see as she writes and edits. Of course, people cannot edit or write on the document themselves. The document, though, is so popular that you cannot get in to see everything at any one time. Plus she had to split the document into two parts because of the constraints of Google Docs.

The process of writing can be a deeply personal experience. We all feel a certain sensitivity about what we write, whether it’s poetry or even an article. You have to have a thick skin just with the final product, but imagine if everyone could see the steps you took to get to the point where you’re ready to share it. Would we start to self edit and not put down what we really want? Would we be exposed of being a fraud as a writer and a product of quality editing?

I wonder how many people I would confuse as they watch me write. I don’t always write from beginning to end. If I’m writing an article, I might not have a lede or opening ready in my mind. I write the rest, and that usually uncovers what my lede should be. And I sometimes jump around when I’m writing fiction. I may know how a scene will unfold later in the story or how it will end, but I’m not sure yet how it will start. But writing the ending, or even middle scenes, allows you to drop in some foreshadowing, a very powerful tool, earlier in the story.

I don’t think I’d be brave enough to open up my writing process to the entire world so they could see how I write. Would you? Talk about it in the comments or send me a tweet @jenconnic.

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Would you pay to edit your tweets and for other tools on Twitter?

Like always, it started with a simple tweet.

Still hate that you can't edit tweets. Just realized I did a double negative.

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Jen Connic (@jenconnic) June 26, 2012

I tweeted something on the work account and realized it included a double negative. But it was too late for me to change it per my philosophy on deleting tweets. It had been up for more than a matter of seconds and people were already responding to it and retweeting it. I had to let the mistake live forever as much as I wanted to change it.

And I thought back to my frustrations of how you cannot edit tweets. It’s not like I want to edit the content. I just want to fix simple mistakes like poor punctuation or, as in the case this morning, a double negative.

I know I’m not alone, and I got support from Steve Buttry and Elana Zak. It led to a discussion on what if Twitter indeed allow us to edit our tweets.

@elanazak @stevebuttry @jenconnic Would there be an "edited" stamp to show the tweet had been altered? If so, I'm on board.

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Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) June 26, 2012

@AdrienneLaF Yes, something would have to show it had been edited for transparency. Like a strikethrough. @stevebuttry @jenconnic

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Elana Zak (@elanazak) June 26, 2012

@elanazak @stevebuttry @jenconnic Better yet if there could also be a way to link to previous iteration without cluttering up aesthetic.

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Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) June 26, 2012

Which led to an interesting point by Steve.

@elanazak @jenconnic @AdrienneLaF I'd be fine w/ transparency. I'd pay for a pro version w/ editing, easier search of old tweets, etc.

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Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) June 26, 2012

@stevebuttry @elanazak @AdrienneLaF I think I'd pay for that too. I think many news orgs would also pay for it.

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Jen Connic (@jenconnic) June 26, 2012

Interesting idea from @SteveButtry. Would news orgs pay for a pro version of Twitter with "editing, easier search of old tweets, etc."?

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Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) June 26, 2012

I think I would pay for features such as editing tweets and other tools like access to older tweets too because those are things I could use regularly. And I think news organizations also would do the same.

But Twitter would need to be careful in how they went about it. First, they would need to make sure there wasn’t a premium on just looking at tweets. All tweets should be as they are today where people can see everything. Secondly, there is the point about tracking how a tweet is edited, which is what started the whole conversation. Facebook is allowing editing, but there is supposed to be tracking to show you the post had indeed been edited.

So this brings a lot of questions, which I now put to you to discuss: Do you wish you could edit your tweets? How should edited tweets be tracked? Would you pay for features like editing tweets and other higher-level tools for Twitter? What features would you pay to have? Post your thoughts in the comments or send me a tweet @jenconnic.

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Flying without a net: How to be a better self editor

My boss at a previous job and I would argue about proper grammar. We didn’t argue about content like why I talked to certain people and not others nor did we argue over what stories I chose to write. We argued about our differences in grammar. I always refer to the “ribbon-cutting ceremony” argument the most. I say there’s a hyphen. He says there is not.

I have a lot of grammar pet peeves. I hate the overuse of “this” and “that” in articles, especially that. Far too often the “that” is not needed, especially when someone writes “said that.” I get annoyed when people overuse commas. People who don’t put periods inside the quotation mark drive me batty. Splitting the infinitive also can drive me bonkers. And the list goes on and on, though I felt better when I joined #wjchat on the subject last night. There are others with similar pet peeves or some crazier than mine.

It’s what happens when you take care in editing copy, which sometimes I believe happens less and less in today’s writing world. But most of us are self editing, like I have to do with this blog. I call it “flying without a net.” When I worked at WestportNow and Patch, my stories would go up without an editor reviewing it. Someone might look at it later to edit. Sometimes that didn’t happen. It’s part of why I have worked hard to write clean copy.

How do you make sure your copy is clean before you post? You don’t need to scrutinize it. Just give it a read, but here’s the biggest piece of advice: Read it out loud if you can. It’s a trick I learned as a journalism undergraduate student. You’re more likely to find your mistakes, especially awkward sentences and repeated words, if you read something out loud. I remember dashing off something quick for a “writing for the ear” glass in graduate school without reading it out loud to myself. When I read it out loud for the first time to my class I noticed how I had repeated one word several times.

On Twitter today, @ksablan posted a link to an article with mistakes too many writers make. Some of my pet peeves are mentioned in the article. But there’s really no real list of simple mistakes we all make. We all have a quirk, which is something to keep in mind. Is there a word you cannot spell? Do you always mess up using affect versus effect? If you know the mistake you make over and over, you can remind yourself with a note (I used to have Post-It notes all over my monitor with words I could never spell properly). Eventually, though, you’ll train yourself to not make those mistakes.

Also remember your audience is your editor too. They’re going to pick up typos and other mistakes and let you know about it. Some are nice and will send you an e-mail, but others will call you out in the comments. Still others may rip you apart because you made a grammar mistake. The proper thing to do is to thank them for pointing it out and fixing it in the article. Always thank the person who points it out, even if they’re nasty to you. The nasty commenters won’t really have a response to an acknowledgement and mention that you edited the story.

Do you have advice for writing clean copy? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

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The scourge of overwriting (or why better editing is needed)

The word “plethora” has popped up in more than one article I’ve read in the last two days. At least one story made my eyes cross because it took me around and around in circles. I’m reading the results of overwriting.

I feel like there is more of it today than ever before. Maybe it’s because we all want to separate themselves from everyone else in a crowded world where we’re all trying to get everyone to give our work a few minutes. But having flair and a voice is a lot different than overwriting. One takes years to develop. The other takes years to shake if no one makes you stop.

I think we all go through some sort of overwriting phase in our careers, usually when we’re younger. I look back at some of the things I wrote more than a decade ago and cringe at some of the inside baseball. Young writers also tend to think using basic words like “said” or “people” is boring and need to use another (more exciting) word to replace it. You really don’t.

Just remember one thing: KISS. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

If you keep it simple, you’re going to have an easier time reaching your readers. Their eyes aren’t going to cross trying to figure out what you mean. More importantly, they will understand the issue and the truth behind it. Isn’t that the goal of what we all do?

But there’s something else important here to remember: Good editing will help tame the writing beast.

I have developed a voice and a flair in my writing, something I worked hard to do. But it also came from working with good editors who beat certain flaws out of me. They worked with me and told me what I needed to do differently. They didn’t just rewrite the story and not tell me anything (this has happened to me and I hated it every time it did for a variety of reasons). It allowed me to grow into the writer I have become.

And actually becoming an editor and a mentor to other journalists (the latter scaring the hell out of me) also helped me elevate my writing even further. Through editing and seeing the flaws in other people’s writing, I was able to correct it in my own.

Alas, it seems good editors are a dying breed in today’s world. Many copy editing desks are biting the dust. Other seasoned editors are retiring and leaving journalism. It feels like far too many editors today are not as dedicated to quality as they used to be, which can be a result of rising demands of everyone in newsrooms.

It’s why I am willing to help just about anyone with their writing. I’ve edited for friends, even outside the business, and I give advice. I had someone there to help me through my career (and still have people I lean on to this day), so I want to make sure others have the same.

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