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The Reproof Blog
on the craft of writing and rewriting.
Don’t kill your darlings: What writers do with the things they cut
How to rescue your darlings
Write first. Cleanup later. Then as you’re proofreading, you’ll hit something unique, something you love, but something that doesn’t quite fit in this piece. Something that will distract readers from …
Justin Jackson on Proofreading
"Write it fast, then read it out loud a few times."
Sometimes you need a break. Between blog posts about bootstrapping a startup, a book about marketing for developers, and running podcasting platform Transistor (with content about starting a podcast a…
Atlassian's Peter Preston on Proofreading
"Read it out loud to see if it sounds like a script or if it flows."
Writing is perhaps one of the most universal job skills, not something reserved for "official" writers. For product marketers, such as Atlassian's Peter Preston, writing is part of how you promote you…
Notion's Nate Martins on Proofreading
"It’s all about writing a bad first draft."
You don't write for the sake of it. You write for a specific goal, to share a certain idea and (especially in business writing) drive readers to take some action afterwards. That goal is what matters.…
99% of what you publish won’t be popular
But the only way get the popular 1% is to write the other 99% as well.
I accidentally wrote the 35th most popular post on Zapier’s blog. It was early 2017, in those sleepy weeks after the holidays when you’re trying to get back into the swing of things. I needed to run a…
Justin Pot on Proofreading
"I like to have my computer read my articles to me."
"Read it out loud," suggested Zapier managing editor Deb Tennen on how she spots things to fix in her writing. Justin—my former Zapier colleague with bylines around the web including Fast Company and …
Adam DuVander on Proofreading
"Do a final proofread when something is closest to its final form."
The way you proofread might change based on the circumstances. That's how developer marketer Adam Duvander proofreads his work. Things he's writing for himself get a quick read-over; things for client…
How to Proofread: The Nine Best Ways to Improve Your Writing
writing, rewriting, and the persuit of perfection
You’ve written and rewritten, read your piece so many times you could almost quote it from memory. You’re done. Then you glance over the text again, and a repeated word jumps out at you. What if you’d…
Rochi Zalani on Proofreading
"Leave comments for yourself while writing the draft and address them while editing."
When you're working as a team of one, proofreading is even more crucial as you may be the only one who can catch your flaws before publication. As a freelance writer with bylines in Zapier's blog, Bus…
Melanie Pinola on Proofreading
"Read the piece from someone else's point of view."
Over countless Google Docs comments and Slack conversations, Melanie Pinola shaped my writing and that of numbers other Zapier team members and freelancers over the years our tenure overlapped. She’s …
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