Writing is often a frustrating, exhausting process—especially if we are under deadline to produce something and that deadline is fast approaching. Each word that emerges on the computer screen represents effort (if not blood, sweat and tears), so once the piece is finally written, our tendency is to breathe a sigh of relief, quickly glance over it, and press the send button.

If you care about quality, however—especially if you are a small business owner and every word you write directly represents you—stop! Don’t press that send button just yet.

I’m sure you’ve heard that writing is a process. This means that putting our thoughts down on paper is only the first step in producing a clear, coherent communication that achieves our goals. The most important step is the next one: Revision.

To be able to revise our work requires that we get some distance from it. This is because we are so close to the piece right after finishing it that we will “see” what we expect to see even if it isn’t actually there!

What’s the solution?

Put the piece down and walk away. Do something else for an hour or two (or—if at all possible—for a day or two). Then come back and carefully re-read what you have written. When you do, you may feel as though someone else had written it altogether.

This distance you have gained plays a critical role in the writing process because faulty reasoning, out-of-place ideas, confusing passages, wordiness, repetitions, and all manner of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors will suddenly leap out at you.

Another plus is that as you begin to work on the issues you have identified, completely new ideas…new support for your points…and better ways to express something will often occur to you as well.

The end result of this revision/taking a break process will be a powerful piece of writing that truly communicates with its intended audience and achieves its goals. At the same time, it will also demonstrate your expertise and your high regard for quality.

Clearly the benefits of taking a break outweigh the urge to just get the thing off your desk, don’t you think?

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