Do you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over when you are writing? I did until I developed a self-editing checklist.

This checklist can be used each time you edit a blog post, a personal experience essay, a picture book or novel. It sounds simple but it can make a big difference.

Everyone’s checklist will be different so make one based on your needs. It can be modified as often as necessary.
Below is my first self-editing checklist to help you get started. It is simple but effective.

My favorite item is ‘Read out loud,’ because you find mistakes. For example: you can tell if the story flows smoothly or find words that can be added or deleted.

Create your own checklist and print it out the next time you get ready to edit and see what a difference it makes.

Checklist for Personal Experience Stories

1. _____ Does my topic follow my mission?
2. _____ Show, don’t tell. Don’t tell and show. Pick one.
3. _____ Use stronger and different verbs (don’t use the same ones over and over).
4. _____ Avoid crutch words (i.e., just, really, actually, very, that, like, etc.)
5. _____ Assess my writing:
   1. _____ Catchy title.
   2. _____ Hook sentence.
   3. _____ Proper narrative structure.
   4. _____ Make sure the story is in the correct order.
6. _____ If more than one page, include heading on each page (last name/title/page#).
7. _____ Read the story out loud.
8. _____ Use ‘me’ instead of ‘I’. Example: Tom and me….
9. _____ Use uppercase Mom/Dad/etc. instead of lowercase my mom.
10. _____ Make sure to keep the same tense throughout.
11. _____ Write like people don’t know anything because they don’t.
12. _____ Ensure all links work.