"Writing is easy."

Mark Twain said “Writing is easy. You just cross out the wrong words.”

Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is shit.”

Whilst we may not be the equal of these great storytellers we can learn from them and every other author.

Once you have written your first draft you should not click Save and send it off to the audience. Revise and edit your work. Make it as good as you reasonably can before you declare it finished.

I know sometimes we can be up against a deadline. The report is due at 5pm and you finish it at 4.55. Well, yes that does happen, but if something is important you need to manage your time to get it right. That means leaving enough time to edit your first draft.

And let me be clear — I mean you should edit the draft of the content BEFORE it is formatted for despatch.

I have several tips for you about revising and editing.

• If you can, leave the draft for a day or two so you come back to it with a fresh mind.

• Fewer words is usually better than more words so try to reduce the document by at least 10 per cent. Sometimes a lot more than 10 per cent can be cut.

• Reading your words aloud can really help you with making sure it flows properly.

• Grammar checking software, like Grammarly and even an app called Hemingway, can help.

• Work hard on getting the opening right. Often I find the first draft includes lots of unnecessary information in the introduction, words written as a sort of warm up, to get the thing going. These can be quickly deleted and the document will be the better for it

• Don’t be afraid to “kill your darlings”. Do not keep something in the document just because you spent a long time writing it. If it does not add value to the reader it needs to be cut out.