Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

Rewriting Is The Secret To Good Writing
Reading for pleasure and daily timed writing are the foundation of your English
writing practice. However, you will not become a great writer by only using these
two methods. In fact, your timed writings will probably never be great. They’ll
always have mistakes and problems, and that’s fine.
In fact, your imperfect journal writing will be in good company. This is a secret
that few writers discuss, but all know: almost all first drafts are bad! In other words,
even professional native speakers, who get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars
for their books, can write badly. All writers make grammar mistakes. All writers
make spelling mistakes.
Great writers know that the secret to good writing is rewriting. You see, with
writing we have a great advantage compared to speaking. We have time. You have
time to read what you wrote. You have time to identify your mistakes. You have time
to correct those mistakes. You have time to completely rewrite everything. You even
have time to show your writing to other people and get their help!
For casual writing, such as a blog post or email, it’s not usually necessary to
rewrite. However, for important communication such as business proposals, school
essays, important emails, professional articles, etc., rewriting is absolutely essential.
The good news is that you don’t need to write perfectly. It is acceptable to make
mistakes in your first draft. We all do. It’s even acceptable for your first draft to be
terrible. With writing, only the final draft is essential and it must be mistake free.
You create your great final draft through the editing process. First, use timed
writing to quickly write your first draft. Get your ideas on paper. Make mistakes.
Just write quickly.
Once you have the first draft, you have something to work with. Think of
yourself as a sculptor and the first draft is your clay. Read the draft, imagining
yourself as the final reader (your audience). Are the ideas clear? Is everything stated
as directly as possible? What’s confusing? Are the ideas well organized?
Undoubtedly, you will find many problems. That’s when you rewrite. Correct the

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problems. Cut the mistakes. Rewrite whole sections, or the whole thing, if necessary.
Your focus is to make the second draft simpler, clearer and more direct.
When you finish your second draft, save it and put it aside. If possible, wait a day
and then reread it. Again imagine you are the final reader. Look for overly complex
sentences. Look for unclear ideas. Fix the problems again and rewrite for the second
time.
For many kinds of writing, two rewrites will be enough. However, if the writing
is particularly important, you’ll need to do more. For this kind of writing, it’s best
to get outside help from an editor. Your editor might be a friend, or a tutor, or even
a paid professional. This person will read your third draft and offer advice. Ask
them to quickly rewrite any sections that are problematic.
Working with an editor will help you create the best writing possible. It’s not
always necessary, but do it whenever you can, and carefully notice their rewrite
suggestions.
After a few rewrites with your editor, you’ll be ready to publish what you have
written. Before you do so, be sure to use spell check to catch spelling mistakes you
may have missed.