A Simple Guide to Avoiding Multiple Rounds of Edits in your Articles.

Sanjana Sankhyan
3 min readMay 19, 2022

If you follow me on LinkedIn, you must have seen that, a few months ago, I made a post about my writing process. I have been writing professionally since October 2020, and believe it or not, the moment I started following a proper writing process, my life changed!

One of the most surprising things that happened is that the time taken to write something decreased by more than 50%. A part of why this happened was that I knew what exactly I needed to do and that helped reduce extra efforts.

I am sharing secrets here with you today; here is what MY WRITING PROCESS looks like!

Step 1: Briefs and Structures

The first step is to either create my own briefs and structures or get them through my clients. If I am to create the structure, I usually start with understanding the topic properly. In order to understand the topic, I usually read other articles on the same topic and watch youtube videos about it.

Pro tip: Read similar articles on competitors’ websites and analyse what is missing their structure. Add it to yours! Take advantage of someone else’s mistake *wink*

Since I already have my niche, this does not take a lot of time for me. Max 1 hour, and once the client approves, I’m set to write!

Step 2: Division of the article

I usually write long-form content; hence, I like to divide my article into parts. I usually make sections depending on the scope of writing. For example, if something requires less effort, I’ll make fewer parts. But if the effort required is higher, I divide it into more parts. The simplest way of division is to follow the H2s.

Step 3: Research and Write

Once my article has been divided into parts, I start writing. I usually like to start with the most difficult parts of the article. After that, I research every section and then write. This is how I can focus on one thing at a time. It’s important to focus on one section, or your article will look like a scatter of words.

Pro tip: Writing in such a way improves the coherence of your content as you’re not jumping from one section to another!

Step 4: Editing Time!

I have a confession to make- I hate editing! I know editing is of supreme importance, but it’s the boring part of writing. Agree?

Anyways, with a heavy heart (XD), I start editing. I make edits based on two things: grammar and coherence. For grammar edits, I use Grammarly; it’s not the best but works fine. To check the coherence and fluency, I read my articles out loud.

Pro tip: If you want to read your articles aloud, it’s better to convert them into a pdf and then do it! Also, MS Word has a feature of reading aloud. You could use that if you’re lazy XD.

Step 5: Final Read

That’s it. We have come to an end. Finally, after all, edits, I like to read my articles once. Just to check if anything is left.

And voila! Article completed!

Following this process has helped me save a lot of time. Earlier I used to get numerous edit and rework requests, but fortunately, not anymore!

That’s it. It is that simple. In case you use my method, please do not forget to let me know on LinkedIn or Twitter!

If you liked this article, you’ll love my newsletter! Subscribe here.

--

--

Sanjana Sankhyan

Hello! I am Sanjana, a freelance web content writer. I mostly write about freelancing tips, stories and struggles here. I hope you enjoy reading!