Are you like me? You do your best hub editing immediately after hitting the pub

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   cam8510posted 11 years ago

   Are you like me?  You do your best hub editing immediately after hitting the publish button?
   
   I simultaneously kick myself and correct that run on sentence, cut down that overblown paragraph and fix the title.  Why oh why do I wait to get really serious about editing.  By the time I finish, several people have already read the crappy version.  I just wonder if there are others who suffer with the same malady.

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   Billie Kelpinposted 11 years ago

   I think that's simply the nature of creativity.  I do exactly the same thing.  Often I never ever catch the blatant errors I've made even later.  Fortunately I have a loving, giving, patient software-engineer husband who is GREAT at details. He LIVES to see the details.  I just say, "Honey, would you please look this over for grammar and spelling errors.  But heaven help him if he suggests a word change.  Watch out!  Billie gets into raging Billie mode. "That's the word I WANTED to use.  DON'T change it!"  But he is my greatest help in this area.
   Bubblews is "kinda" re-training me to write first in a document, check for errors, and then post because if you start writing something on their website and "walk away," it's totally gone. 
   So let's just say that a negative pre-editing-before-posting characteristic is inversely proportional to the level of creativity.  The less pre-editing you can force yourself to do, the more creative you are. 
   That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Now, I'll post this and hope the 10 minute "edit" function stays on until I fix all my mistakes.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Billie, very helpful and very funny.   Thanks

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      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks so much, Cam.  Onward we go.  Let's vow that we who write on hubpages know that each others' missed edits are just because we're so gosh darn creative.  That's STILL my story and I'm sticking to it.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I like your style Billie.

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   The Examiner-1posted 11 years ago

   As I said in my Hub on my proofreading, I am always checking my Hubs. When I am writing my Hub I go over it very carefully in Word (where I write it) then I transfer it to HP. I check each capsule again individually and I still find errors when I read it again days later.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The Examiner-1, I do write on my Mac Pages so I guess I'm headed i the right direction.  Thanks for the suggestions.

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      The Examiner-1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      cam8510
      You are welcome, good luck!

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   Pamela N Redposted 11 years ago

   That was true in the beginning because I was impatient to get articles published but over the years I've learned to let things simmer on my computer and then on the website for a bit before hitting the publish button.
   
   You can save unpublished for a couple of days (you can actually save them for longer if you want) and that allows you to see what it will look like when it is open to the public and gives you the opportunity to look for any errors you may have missed while it was just a document on your hard drive.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Pamela, I am guilty of being in too much of a hurry to publish.  Thanks for the reminder to be patient.

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   cjbryant27posted 11 years ago

   Absolutely! I'm pretty new to this, so I can't say that many people have read my crappy version first. Also, I wonder if I've chosen the right format, images, etc. I guess practice will make perfect. Or almost perfect?

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I think you are right, cjbryant.  We will get better with time.

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   Jodahposted 11 years ago

   Yes Cam,
   I am always going back and correcting, adding to or changing hubs, even though most people who are interested have already read them. i guess I'm just never really satisfied with what I've written and new things pop into my head.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Jodah, we write for ourselves at least as much as for other people, don't we?

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   JayeWisdomposted 11 years ago

   I'm chuckling, Cam, as I write this. You aren't the only one who suffers from "premature publishing syndrome." This happens to me even after I've proofed and edited my work. As soon as I see it in the published version, words and phrases jump off the screen at me, shrieking, "You shouldn't have written this!" or "How could you have used this word instead of that one?" 
   
   In fact, if I waited until I was really satisfied with anything I write, nothing would ever make it to the published stage. I'd just keep editing...and editing...and editing. I always see something that could be made better. That's good news, in a way. It means that periodic editing of existing hubs will improve them and increase traffic.
   
   See? There's a good side to even this "malady."
   
   Jaye

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   FamousDenaposted 11 years ago

   Do not kick yourself too hard, Cam. In the technical writing field, we have a saying: All writing is in draft form until we hit deadline. Meaning, you can continually edit a document until the end of time and you will always find some way to make improvements. Best to give yourself a deadline and stick to it. Allow yourself the time to complete a thorough editing job, including sentence structure, typos, and readability. Then post that story and be happy with it.
   
   I read through my past postings from time to time and continue to make small edits. As stated above, you can edit until the end of time. Your writing will never be perfect. After all, we are human. Have fun!

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Dena, judging from your profile and one hub, I can see that you do exactly what you have said here .  Thanks for the insights.

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