What I Do When I Revise

When I revise, I hit the spell check button and use that as my first line of defense against common errors in my paper. Then, I go back and reread everything, cringing a little as I realize mistakes that I have made and now must fix. After that, I hit spell check again. Then, I reread the entire paper and if I can’t find any more mistakes, I’ll save the document and print it out. If I find more mistakes, the process starts all over again. If I’m really anxious about what I’ve written or if one of my friends just happens to be nearby, I’ll ask them to read it and tell me if they see anything wrong with it. If I was going to choose a metaphor for the way I edit something, I suppose that I’d be a painter retouching their work with fresh paint when a certain color isn’t right.