What makes self-editing so difficult is a basic fact of human nature: we tend to be blind to our own mistakes. Otherwise, we wouldn't make the same ones over and over again! What is needed is a way to step out of your skin—to be "objective" in the truest sense of the word. Robert Burns had that in mind when he prayed for the grace to "see ourselves as others see us." How do you develop the ability to "see yourself as others see you"—or at least at the reader sees you?

A second problem with editing your material is based on the way our brains work. When we do editing, we are working with an entirely different part of our brain than when we are writing. As a result, a good writer may not necessarily be a good editor because it is a different kind of skill.

Are these problems insurmountable? Not at all—you just have to follow a few rules:

1. Sleep on it. Don't try to edit your masterpiece while the creative fire is still warm. Lay it aside and don't even think about it for a couple of days. Then you can look at it as if it were someone else's material.

2. Do multiple passes—once for proofreading (grammar, syntax, and punctuation), once as an overview for the general thrust of the message, and once for literary power of individual paragraphs, sentences, and words. In that last pass, read each sentence twice before moving on to the next sentence.

3. Experiment. Cross out some words at random. Repunctuate a sentence. Move some paragraphs around. When you finish your experimentations, review the result. Does it work? If not, go back to the way it was. But there are times when random changes can force you to look at the writing differently.

4. Rewrite when necessary—and even when it's not necessary. Rewrite the beginning, the ending or other passages from a different viewpoint -- even if you are satisfied with the original. Remember, you can always return to the old version if you don't like the new one. Besides, it helps you get past the mentality that says there is only one way to say something. Even the Bible tells the same story different ways. This is a major problem that plagues beginning writers—they think that everything they write is perfect the first time they write it down. A professional writer knows that you almost never get something right the first time.

5. Finally, pray objectively—for eyes to "see ourselves as others see us." Ask the Lord to help you be ruthless in your revisions. I think it was Samuel Johnson who said that whenever he reviewed his writing, he would pause at any passage he thought was particularly fine—and cross it out. "Kill your little darlings," he said.

Along with these general rules for self-editing, here are some practical tips for specific situations:

In narration (especially fiction) that involves movement of characters through a building, cave, or neighborhood, draw yourself a diagram—not for publication, but for your own reference. Better yet, ask someone else to read the passage and draw the diagram. One book I edited had a character going up and down stairs so much that I lost track of where he was. Since he was breaking into a castle to rescue a princess, his location was important to the plot!

Watch out for terminology. It is amazing how the context and connotations of words, the slightest shades of meaning, can twist what your are trying to say into something totally different. For example, I recently wrote about a local church that had a vision to become a "major missionary organization." That has a connotation of being an independent group, which it was not at all. I changed it to "major missions base" and the story read a lot better. Only one person in a hundred might have gotten the wrong impression by the phrase, but a few of those bloopers in any piece and you may be in trouble.

If you never use certain punctuation marks in your writing (the dash for example), you should be suspicious of your use of punctuation. Some punctuation allows you to say things without resorting to wordiness, bad grammar, or fractured syntax. Frequent and repeated use of a certain punctuation mark should also be suspect.

If these suggestions make you feel paranoid about your writing, be thankful! A healthy dose of paranoia is an editor's best friend. When you edit, you must of necessity question every little thing. Just learn when to turn the paranoia on and off. The critical, questioning eye of an editor only gets in your way when you are writing a first draft. If you don't learn to turn off the editor within you when you write, you'll find yourself fighting and squelching the free flow of your words. You have to learn to take off your editor's hat when you write, or you're headed for a terminal case of writer's block.

Developing your self-editing skills can greatly improve your writing. If you are submitting your material to an editor, it can also greatly improve your chances of being published. A self-edited piece of writing makes life easier for the editor and ultimately for the reader. It's a way to apply the Golden Rule to your own material.