How To (Productively) Edit Your Writing With ChatGPT

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Ahoy, Digital Writers!

The only question you should be asking yourself when you edit is, “Will this provide even more value to the reader?”

Editing should be the thing you spend the least amount of time doing. The writing is way more important than the editing. In general, Digital Writers tend to way overestimate the impact of all the little editing choices.

The truth is, the reader usually can’t tell what you spent time editing and what you didn’t.

Which means…

Editing is not as important as you think.

Go read Reddit for 15 minutes.

You’ll find yourself intently reading posts and comments that are hardly “world-class literature,” but you give them your attention because the content is a) great and b) highly relevant to you.

When editing, there are really only 3 things worth paying attention to:

• Structure (“Is this organized effectively?”)

• Content (“What am I actually trying to say here?”)

• Grammar (“Is this correct?”)

Everything else is noise.

So today, we are going to hire ChatGPT to handle the nitpicky bits so you can focus on the writing.

Let’s go!

Edit for organization, first.

When reading back through your writing, your first priority is figuring out if the right content is in the right order.

• “Should Chapter 2 actually be Chapter 1?”

• “Should this section go before or after this big idea?”

• “Should this example go here, or go there?”

Don’t worry about anything in the sentences. Don’t worry about individual words.

Just focus on the actual organization of the content.

Is everything where it’s supposed to be?

Edit for content, second.

Once the organization is confirmed (everything is in its rightful place), the next round of edits should be on the content itself.

Just go down the list:

• Tips: “Is this the right set of tips to productively move the reader from A to C? Do I need to get more specific with the action steps?”

• Reasons: “Is this the right rationale? Am I making a logical argument here? Does the reader need more context? Do they need less context?”

• Mistakes: “Are these the right mistakes to point out? Are these helpful to the reader? Are there any important mistakes I forgot?”

• Lessons: “Are these the right takeaways and lessons? Are these impactful? Is the reader going to remember these? Am I being too vague? How can I make these takeaways more visceral?”

• Personal Stories: “Is this personal story adding context and value to the reader? Am I rambling on and on about myself? What’s the most important part of the story I’m telling—and how can I emphasize just that? How can I bring the story back to the wants & needs of the reader?”

• Case Studies/Examples: “Is this case study or example relevant? Does it emphasize the point I’m trying to make, or is it one big tangent the reader doesn’t really need?”

• Research: “Do these stats, trends, or data points I’m referencing add anything to what I’m explaining? Is this helpful to the reader, or is it boring?”

These are the sorts of questions you want to ask yourself as you look at what you’ve written.

Most importantly, trust your gut.

If you find yourself getting bored reading what you’ve written, chances are, you might not need that section.

Cut the fluff and just give the reader “the good stuff!”

Edit for spelling, grammar, and punctuation, third.

Finally, at the very end, you want to do a quick read for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Two important things here:

First, don’t get caught up trying to make your writing “perfect.” Don’t spend hours and hours obsessing over whether you’re using the Oxford comma the right way. (Remember, most people read at a 3rd grade reading level anyway—and they have no idea how to use the Oxford common the right way either.)

Second, you are going to make spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. You just are. You’re going to miss a few misspelled words here and there. You’re going to use the wrong “your” in a sentence. You’re going to accidentally use a semicolon instead of a regular colon. It’s fine.

The beauty of writing onlne is: you can always make changes and reupload new versions later! So, after you hit publish, when you will inevitably find little mistakes here and there (and/or readers will point them out for you), just keep a list and every few months, do another quick pass—and reupload the final digital version online again.

Easy.

Hire ChatGPT to be your editor.