How Self-Editing Can Make You A Better Writer

What You’ll Learn

Teddy Feinberg, managing editor at the Idaho Press, gives us a preview of his sessions at StoryConnect 2024, where he will be the writing instructor. In this episode, Teddy focuses on the value of concise writing and gives tips on how to improve your writing by self-editing.

Guest Speaker

Teddy Feinberg

Show Notes

Transcripts have been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Intro: A production of Pioneer Utility Resources. StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers.

Andy Johns: What can you do to improve your writing by making it even more concise? That’s what we’ll be talking about on this episode of StoryConnect: The Podcast. My name is Andy Johns, your host with Pioneer. And I’m joined on this episode by Teddy Feinberg, who is the managing editor at the Idaho Press and notably, our writing instructor at The StoryConnect Conference coming up in hood River, April 8 to 10. Teddy, thanks so much for joining us on the podcast and for being our writing instructor at the conference.

Teddy Feinberg: I appreciate both opportunities immensely. Thank you for having me.

Andy Johns: Sure. So Teddy will be joining us, like I said, if you’ve not seen the the thing sent out, we would love for our StoryConnect listeners to join us at StoryConnect 2024, in Hood River. More information on that is available at storyconnect.com. But, we’ve got a great photo instructor who will have on a later episode, and then we’ve got Teddy, who was our writing instructor extraordinaire, who we’ll be talking a lot of the topics that we’ve been kicking around for Teddy to get into with the workshop, deal with self editing and with concise writing, kind of tight storytelling. You know, being very efficient and effective with word usage. So before we get too far down the road, Teddy, let’s talk about the concept of self editing, because that may not be a concept that folks are that familiar with. What do you mean when you say that folks can improve with some self editing?

Teddy Feinberg: I’ll even give an example right now, Andy, and I’m working on a story on, a weekend story, that’s pretty labor intensive right now.

Andy Johns: Okay.

Teddy Feinberg: I anticipate that I am going to be self editing my work, and I’m actually just working on a portion of the story. I am not working on the entire story. I am working on a – I am teaming up with another reporter to write a portion of it. And I anticipate my portion of that story, I am going to take an hour’s worth of my time to self edit it. And not only am I going to self edit this portion of work, I’m actually going to step away from my laptop, and I am going to do it on my cellular phone on a Google doc to make sure it’s on kind of a different platform or a different device. So I see it a little bit differently from my perspective. And I will spend an hour doing that, because when I hand this piece of work in, I want it to be as clean as a whistle. And I want my editor saying, this guy did it right. Thanks for coming. Appreciate your work. That’s what I want.

Andy Johns: Okay. And that’s good. And that’s an interesting tip. I know a lot of folks will print it off and, you know, get after it with the red pen. The same kind of idea. You’re doing it, you know, digitally. But switching out of that screen. It’s funny how the brain works, how it’s easier to see stuff like that sometimes.

Teddy Feinberg: You know, I think it’s a little unconventional, but, and you know, that might be my middle name. But at the end of the day, I think it’s valuable to find different ways to see your work and see also how readers are going to read your work. Part of the reason I actually read it on my phone is because, you know, I think a lot of people are consuming their news that way.

Andy Johns: Definitely.

Teddy Feinberg: And yeah, I mean, I think having it in different mediums, different platforms, I think is valuable. But most importantly, just taking time. Self editing is part of the reporting process, right? So just making sure you’re taking some time and investing some time in that. Yeah. You write the story. But your job’s not done when you write the story. Your job’s actually done when you hand the story in, and you want to make sure that’s a good at representation of the work you put in.

Andy Johns: Excellent. Now, and we’ve talked about it before, I’ve got a newspaper background. I went to journalism school, all that. And it’s funny, I didn’t realize until then when you’ve got, you know, an experienced editor going through and the kind of the crutches that we have, you know, “that” is the word. It winds up for me, the word “that” will show up, and the editors would always go through, you know, you don’t need “that” so many times. It’s perfectly fine without that word. It’s just four extra letters taking up space. What are some of the things – when you are self editing your work, so that’s the thing when I read my own copy that I always go through, particularly looking at “thats”. But what are some of the things that as your self editing, have you got like a kind of a mental checklist that you go through, and you know yourself as a writer well enough to know those things? Or what are you looking for when you’re going through a self edit?

Teddy Feinberg: I think, that’s a great question. I really want to make sure that my story flows good, and it sounds right. I personally have a habit as a writer of being too wordy. So again, when we talk about being concise, oftentimes if I start when I self edit my work, if I spend half hour doing it, hour and a half depends on the length of the story and the complexity of the story. But I often find that ultimately my story will be shorter actually, when I’m done with the process because I’m tightening things up. And, you know, in news reporting and a news writing, oftentimes you’re writing about issues that are a little complex. And I think making those issues digestible to the reader, understanding the reader might not understand the issues in their entirety. You have to kind of give a bird’s eye view of those issues. Again, you can get too wordy or too in the weeds, and you’ll lose readers doing that. So I think just from my own standpoint, I find myself actually editing down my work and making it more concise and more digestible. And then I just, I’ll also say like repeating words. Like you said, the word “that” was a crutch for you. Having word variation, sentence variation, changing of sentence structures. Sometimes when I’m just sitting there hammering away on a computer, I get repetitive, if that makes any sense.

Andy Johns: Oh, yeah.

Teddy Feinberg: So it mixes things up, I think. Does that answer your question?

Andy Johns: No, it does, it does. Perfect. Are you working like fact checking and that into the self edit? Have you already done that at this at this point? Or does that come later?

Teddy Feinberg: I actually find no, I try to get in front of that stuff the second I start writing. Right? Like if I have a question about something, I try to nip it in the bud immediately. Because I don’t want to forget it, which can happen, right? So if I stumble, even if it’s the spelling of someone’s name or the spelling of a business or whatever it may be, I try to check it then, but I will say during the self editing process. And again, I think it’s actually very valuable on this fine piece of machinery here. I actually always catch stuff, fact checking stuff. And many times, it’s names. It’s the spelling of a name. Or maybe I’ll spell it differently one time. Businesses, streets, I mean, kind of monotonous stuff, but stuff that, you know, it’s easy for the boat to pass you by, you know.

Andy Johns: Right, right. Yeah. But stuff that could that serves to undermine some of the credibility if you get it wrong. So yeah.

Teddy Feinberg: Exactly. Exactly.

Andy Johns: This may be a little bit of a controversial question here. Let’s see. We didn’t talk about this ahead of time. But when you are, you know, we’ve talked a couple of presentations that I do, I talk about AI tools. And a lot of what we encourage folks to do with AI is not necessarily ask it to generate things from nothing, but to help you kind of reformat. You know, if we’re saying, let’s take this article I’ve written, but give it to me in a 100 word teaser that I can put in an email newsletter, something like that.

Teddy Feinberg: That’s very interesting.

Andy Johns: Have you found, have you done very much, or your team done very much, with AI to help with that, to make things more concise? To say, you know, I know it’s been tempting to me. I’ve got 500 words. Oh, I’m supposed to get that to 350? Can AI be a tool to do that, or we’re not there yet?

Teddy Feinberg: You know, it’s definitely a brave new world. I can confidently say, for better or for worse, we haven’t touched it in our newsroom. And, you know, there might be some areas where we could explore it for efficiency purposes. I think what you’re saying is really interesting. And actually, I mean, not to veer totally off topic, but I actually just, I recently made a new friend that that can still happen as you get older. And he’s very well versed in the AI field, and he’s actually a former journalist and still a writer, and he was talking about some of the things that AI could be beneficial. And some of the examples you gave I actually think are great. I think for some of our newsletters, we certainly could explore it. Overall, as a newsroom, I don’t think we’ve been resistant to it. But, you know, we have a young, informed staff. I think that our reporters are resistant to using it. Truthfully, judging from the conversations I’ve had with them.

Andy Johns: Yeah.

Teddy Feinberg: I do think – it’s 2024. And I do think finding a way to explore using it for efficiency purposes that you’re alluding to honestly, to not explore it, that’s called burying your head in the sand. And I don’t think that’s a smart move. So I think we could exploit it for certain areas, but we haven’t dipped our toe in that water really at all here.

Andy Johns: When we’re talking about editing. So you said that your job as a writer is not done until you turn in the copy. And I know that some of what you do, like you said, is writing. But a lot of what you do is editing. And I know back from, you know, remembering the times that I turned in what I thought was a masterpiece. And the editor didn’t agree. And, you know, that’s hard. We joke about it, we, you know, being in the newspaper business, you got to have pretty thick skin to be able to take that. But it’s hard for folks. Do you have, working with young writers, new writers, with folks that don’t have a ton of experience, do you have any tips for them or any lessons you’ve learned yourself to kind of help get over some of the feelings that come up sometimes when an editor does take a take a red pen to the copy that you’ve turned in?

Teddy Feinberg: It’s an outstanding question. And, you know, on one hand, you want people that are passionate about the words they’re putting on paper. So you love that fire. But at the same token, you also need to know that, you know people are in their roles for a reason, and there is a hierarchy. And again, I mean, people are in their positions for a reason. I would say the biggest thing is this: writing is an art form, right? I think journalism is an art form. Oftentimes, we personalize our work. I do it too. We take a lot of pride in our work. I would just say the less personalization on that front. Don’t take it personal. Have the ability to let go. And also pick and choose your battles because you’re not going to win every one.

Andy Johns: Depending on the editor, you may not win any of them. Just for the record.

Teddy Feinberg: Depending on the editor, you might not win any of them. But I do think, you know, in any good working relationship, there’s a give and a take. And, you know, I mean, you know, generally speaking, if somebody gives me five things, I’m probably not going to say yes to all of them. But if I see that, you know, 1 or 2 of them is particularly important to them, we’re going to work to find a middle ground. So yeah, pick and choose your battles, don’t personalize it. And also understand the editor probably is in their role for a reason. They probably know what they’re doing, and ultimately we all want the same thing. We want the best piece of work out there for the community. I mean, that is as simple as that.

Andy Johns: What are some of the things that you do as an editor to help writers get more concise or to help shorten stories? Is it, you know, cutting back on some of the exposition at the beginning where they’re laying out background? Or is it a, you know, word by word? What are some of the strategies or things that you look for when you’re trying to help a writer make a more concise article or story?

Teddy Feinberg: Yeah. I think here, we have a very good editing process. I mean, not to get too deep in the weeds here, but, you know, we have a good system where they really see the edits in place, and we explain why we’re doing them. And, so it’s actually honestly, out of all the newspapers I’ve worked at, I think we have the strongest editing system here, believe it or not. I think though, the most important thing in my job, and this is something I’ve just kind of come across, honestly, in the last six months, but. Better to get in front of the story than behind it, you know. and, you know, with the reporters and in fairness to them, it would be fairly upsetting to me if I handed in an 800 word story, and the editor’s like, this should be 500. That’s a conversation that should be happening before the jump ball. You know what I mean? Don’t tell me in the second quarter what you need. Tell me in pre-game line ups what you need. I mean, I don’t need to be making it. So I think, that’s been, again, we’re all learning. And I think that’s been a key lesson here is kind of like, hey, look like good story idea. You know, let’s make it this and not this. Or, you know, maybe it actually garners a 1,200 word story. And, you know, even, you know, kind of reciting like, this is your lead. This is your strong intro. Good, nut graph here. This is what it should [inaudible]. I just think being in front of the coaching. Good coaches are in front of the ball. They’re not behind it. I guess that’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned.

Andy Johns: That’s a really good way to think about it.

Teddy Feinberg: Yeah.

Andy Johns: When you talk about communication, obviously you’re speaking my language there. In that relationship, I remember I worked at a newspaper for over a year before, and I was covering like a region area where I had a lot of datelines. You know, our rule is like, if it’s outside of the home county for the paper, we would have a dateline on there. And I was there for a year. I mean, a few hundred stories before an editor came up to me and said, “Hey, you know, on the dateline, when you do two minus signs? Every time you’ve done that, I have to go back and change it to a long dash or em dash or en dash. And if you just do this, it doesn’t do that, and I don’t have to do that anymore.” And “Oh, thank you for showing me.” And then I started thinking back, I mean, he had to change that a couple hundred times throughout the year before he came to tell me. So yeah. I think what you’re saying there, that rings true. That that communication on the front end and even in the editing process, sounds like y’all have a good level of transparency in there so folks can see the edits.

Teddy Feinberg: Yeah, we definitely do. Now, I mean, again, that doesn’t mean we don’t have hurdles or that, you know, there aren’t disagreements here and there. But there is very clear, you know, I’ve worked at publications before where I’ve written stuff or someone else has for that matter, and I’ve just changed it, and I didn’t communicate with them about it. Or I picked up a story before that I’ve written and I’m like, I didn’t write the first 4 or 5 paragraphs. And I think that’s a disservice to everybody involved, right? I mean, this is what it needs to be, and oh, by the way, here’s why. And, hey, you know what? I’d rather have that than get blindsided. And again. Kind of talking about the story, the expectations of the story before it’s written, as opposed to after it’s written is always a good rule of thumb, I think. Yeah.

Andy Johns: Yeah. Well, I suppose in an episode about being concise, we don’t need to run too long here. But the last question I had for you, Teddy, was what advice do you have for somebody who’s, maybe they’ve listened to this and they’ve realized, you know, oh, there are some things that I need to do. I’m always struggling with keeping a story concise. What are some pieces of advice that you might have for them to get started to become a better writer by focusing on being concise?

Teddy Feinberg: You know, again, I mean, I don’t know. I think a great tool personally, I love reading Associated Press work.

Andy Johns: Okay.

Teddy Feinberg: They are – they do very good. And again we’re talking here as it applies to my job, but I think it could apply to any form of writing.

Andy Johns: Sure.

Teddy Feinberg: They have a very balanced approach to their reporting. They might lean 60-40 one way or the other, but I think that they walk a very fine line there. They cut it right down the middle. They do it in a very concise form. They also have some very good long form journalism. They do it by the book. And I think that’s kind of how I learned my news writing style. And I would encourage any young reporter or just someone, anyone picking up writing and trying to articulate issues, report issues in the community. I would point them right to their website or right to their app, and I would tell them, get to work, get informed about our society and figure out how they’re passing out the message. Because that’s how I’ve done it. That’s how I’ve done it.

Andy Johns: Makes sense. You want to be a good painter. You study the greats. You want to be a good writer. You study the people out there doing a great job with the work. That makes perfect sense.

Teddy Feinberg: That’s it.

Andy Johns: Hey, Teddy. Thank you so much for joining me.

Teddy Feinberg: No problem, Andy. Thanks for having me.

Andy Johns: He is Teddy Feinberg, the managing editor at the Idaho Press and the writing instructor at the upcoming StoryConnect Conference. Again, you can find information about the conference. We would love to have you join us. Information is at storyconnect.com. It’s going to be in Hood River, Oregon from April 8 to 10. And like I said, we would love to see our listeners of the podcast also join us there in Hood River. He’s Teddy Feinberg. I’m Andy Johns, your host with Pioneer. Until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro: StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative that is built to share your story. StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.