Editing Can Be

Adding

Cutting

Shaping

Tidying

Deleting

Drafting

Reducing

Revising

Trimming

Tweaking

Densening

Digestion

Improving

Rereading

Reviewing

Rewriting

Shrinking

Summation

Tinkering

Condensing

Correction

Rephrasing

Abridgement

Building up

Simplifying

Summarising

Synopsizing

Adding words

Boiling down

Cutting down

Making clear

Paraphrasing

Proofreading

Rethinking

Reimagining

Changing tone

Concentrating

Modification

Organisation

Red penning

Checking text

Deleting words

Cutting clutter

Fixing mistakes

Losing ornament

Pressing delete

Clarifying ideas

Correcting errors

Improving a draft

Improving writing

Rearranging words

Looking carefully

Small refinements

Clarifying messages

Copying and pasting

Eliminating errors

Thoughtful revision

Critically reviewing

Making words clearer

Rearranging elements

Putting in a nutshell

Eliminating wordiness

Streamlining structure

Deleting things fond of

Giving something colour

Identifying usage errors

Losing unnecessary words

Make writing more valuable

Strengthening transitions

Preparation for publication

Suppressing overuse of words

Honing language for an audience

Making writing fit constraints

Where the ‘genius’ stuff happens

Cutting until you can cut no more

Getting rid of unnecessary things

Making sentences more informative

Using scissors more than a pencil

Making denser or more concentrated

Making words and sentences clearer

Making writing be a specific style

Becoming a reader instead of writer

Ensuring adherence to a style guide

Getting rid of words that aren’t great

Omitting every word that can be spared

Letting the fire show through the smoke

Making words and sentences more precise

Making things asap – as short as possible

Removing thorns from amongst strewn rose petals

Shaping a rough draft into a polished final piece

Building castles from the sandpit of words written

Vanishing unnecessary words, phrases and sentences

Making words and sentences as effective as possible

Putting pieces together and making sense out of them

Getting rid of precious passages for the greater good

Pruning a beautiful rose bush that has overgrown the garden

What is begun as soon as a first draft is finished

Making what’s written less of a chore for the reader to read

Producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete piece of work

Replacing humdrum words with ones that have more precision or colour

Making sure that words and sentences are well designed and serve their purpose

Correction of grammatical mistakes, misspellings, mistyping, incorrect punctuation, inconsistencies in usage, poorly structured sentences, wrong scientific terms, wrong units and dimensions, inconsistency in significant figures, technical ambivalence, technical disambiguation, statements conflicting with general scientific knowledge, correction of synopsis, content, index, headings and subheadings, correcting data and chart presentation, and correcting errors in citations