THE PITFALLS OF EDITING ON SCREEN

The problem with editing your work on screen is that you can become blind to errors. The more times you read something, the less you notice these things. This is because when we become familiar with our own work we tend to read for gist rather than detail. Even running your work through the spelling and grammar check on Word won’t pick up everything. When my editor read through my MS, she highlighted things like a missing t on the word thought and the omission of the odd speech mark or full stop. All very simple fixes if you notice them.

I read somewhere that it is much easier to find errors by proofreading a hard copy. Given the expenditure in paper and printing ink most of us are reluctant to do this. However, now that I’ve experimented with this method, I can attest to its value. Things which I’d become oblivious to on screen stood out like a sore thumb on paper.