My Favorite Self-Editing Trick: Stick the Story in a Drawer

Errors, typos and poor writing becomes glaringly obvious

One of the writers I work with recently told me he found an error in his story when, after leaving it alone for a few days, he went back in to make edits I had suggested. “I found a significant error,” he said. “I wrote ‘more’ when it should have been ‘less.’ Grammarly can't pick that one up!”

The old "stick the story in a drawer" trick — one that you should employ whenever you're not in a time crunch. 

Now, I know most of you aren’t printing stories out before you file (though I have something to say about that below) so a metaphorical drawer is fine. Just close the file and don’t look at it for as long as timeliness and your output schedule or desires allow. You will find this tactic incredibly helpful, because our brains suck at self-editing.

I’ll explain the science of this mental block, and how you can overcome it.