by Margot Carmichael Lester | Nov 14, 2016 | Content & Content Operations, Writing/How to Write
Want to be a better writer? Become a better reviser! Here's a true fact: We don't spend enough time making our writing better. Oh, sure, we improve as we draft. Or we use spell checker. But our effort -- not to mention our audience -- deserves better. We need to make...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | May 23, 2016 | Blogs & Blogging, Content & Content Operations
We do a lot of content refreshing and resurfacing for our clients (read more about why updating existing or evergreen content is important), and counsel them to note that the copy has been changed. This small step is particularly important when the topic is something...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Oct 27, 2010 | Best Practice, Work Samples from Margot Lester & The Word Factory Team, Writing/How to Write
I have so much fun guest posting on the Elance blog. My latest post is on one of my favorite topics: revision. It's especially timely because of a report this morning that *gasp* Jane Austen had an editor! Yes, they've found some hand-written manuscripts and it turns...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Feb 3, 2010 | Process, Training & Workshops, Writing/How to Write
I admit to being a little surprised these days when I come across people who steadfastly refuse to use revision as a means of making a piece of writing better in favor of using it as a cudgel. Making snarkly comments about a piece isn't going to improve the writing or...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Jul 14, 2009 | Process, Writing/How to Write
We’re big fans of revision. As good as we are at what we do, no first take couldn’t be made better without a few tweaks. To guide our revising here at The Word Factory, we tend to rely on what we affectionately call the Big 4: 1. Main Idea: The most important thing...