Is there a better way?

Much of what a professional copy-editor does all day is ask themselves if there’s a better way to say what a writer is trying to say, in the way the writer (or the client) would say it.

Saying it in the most appropriate way—one that matches the writers’ unique voice or the brand’s unique style-guide—is a matter of tact and craft. It takes skill to say something (or write something) that sounds better, but that still conveys the same message.

But asking—is there a better way?—is relatively effortless. And, as far as process goes, it’s the most straightforward way I know to produce better work.

What makes writing hard (or depending on your point of view) astonishingly simple, is that there’s almost always a better way to write something. Doing the work of finding out what that is the single most important differentiator between a good writer and a great one.

The same might be true for your profession, as well.