One area I have to admit and hate to say that I have a weakness in when it comes to the written word is proof reading and editing. I often hear other writers say that, they should spend more time writing, but if they did they wouldn't be able to write as much. True enough and I myself use to say this all the time, it was the way I viewed things, thinking that 80% was good enough, let's start the next article; wrong answer.
Careful editing will make you a better writer as you train yourself not to make mistakes during the process and production of your articles. If you rush your editing you'll be sorry and you will miss mistakes too. In fact, any decent writer will tell you that it is best to look over what you've written twice and then allow someone else to read it also, it's amazing how easy it is to read over your own work and miss blatant errors.
I'd say about 80-90% of the online article authors rely on spell check as their proof reader, but believe me, that's not good enough, not if you are shooting for 99% quality and less than 1% mistake free. If you plan on making it in the online article business be sure to think Six Sigma when writing and editing.
Why isn't Spell Check any good you ask? Well, I did not say it isn't any good, it is plenty good, but it's not good enough, it's just one tool. You can easily use the wrong word in sentence, but the right spelling of the wrong word, spell check will not catch it and even the grammar check misses many things.
So, my weakness is editing, proof reading and perhaps to some degree spelling, which I am constantly improving, but I also know just because I am strong in volume and quantity, does not mean I cannot become more efficient. Remember inefficiency is evil, whether it is in government, business, water usage, energy or in my writing, business or personal life or yours for that matter. One should never stop improving.
Luckily, there are big rewards for the writer who constantly improves, the better you get the more you are needed and the better following you will have. Please consider this, it's pretty serious stuff.
Lance Winslow - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/.
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