Magic unveiled: To edit well, turn off brain

Executive Summary:

Impeccable copyediting on deadline -- without the excessive re-writing that dilutes ROI -- sounds like an impossible dream.

But our agency's unusual training program turns PR account executives into elite 9-1-1 copyediters. Eagle Eyes find mistakes that other conscientious proofreaders don't know about or miss. They bring impeccability to documents on deadline.

Key Points:

1. Instead of learning proofreading and grammar, Eagle Eyes learn the "brain off" and "hot zone" techniques, which attack root causes of errors.
2. Training includes "muscle memory" exercises in which trainees learn to enter the right mindset on demand.

Sound bite:

"Our brain is designed to keep us from seeing things as they really are. It 'fixes' what's wrong so that we can smoothly absorb the gist without getting hung up on glitches."

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Read the whole article:

The sneaky, brilliant details underlying the success of our "Eagle Eye" training program for copyeditors is that I don't teach style, grammar, usage and punctuation. You can get that from a book or in school. In Eagle Eye training, recruits study most of that on their own time in addition to what I teach in class.

Best practice: Short-circuit root causes

To develop the program, I homed in on the root causes of proofreading errors and found techniques for short-circuiting them. Then I distilled principles to show good writers how to develop the professional restraint needed to correct errors by others without re-writing. (If you've seen my other blog posts, you know that I consider re-writing the eighth deadly sin.)

I call this special brand of magic the "brain off" and "hot zone" techniques. I'll describe one now and save the other for a later post.

"Turn my brain off? Where's the switch?"

Notice that you can understand what's below even though it's rife with errors.

To keeep up wth th wolrd and the ecnomy, innoavtion ins't enoguh; creatviity is aslo rquired, he says. "Innovtaion is suvrival in the prceivd wrold--maikng somtheing new in the exstng sistym. To be creativ is to thnik abuot a neew systim," said Luc de Brabandere, athuor of "The Forgtten Half of Chnage: Acheeving Graeter Craetviity Thourgh Cheanges in Percption" (Dearborn Trade Pubilshnig, May 2005). Anti-lock breaks stem from inovation. The comptr muose and Stabruck's and Coka-Cola's use of ther bradns to get into muzik sales come from creativity.

Now have a look at this link. It's about Betty Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." In Eagle Eye class, I ask trainees questions about pictures from this book.

My point: Our brain is designed to keep us from seeing things as they really are. It "fixes" what's wrong so that we can smoothly absorb the gist without getting hung up on glitches.

It's not your fault; DNA conspires against you

This means we are born to be really bad proofreaders. It's genetic. We can't help it. All of us are bad.

To counter this, we need to find our brain's "off" switch and commandeer it.

In the first couple weeks of Eagle Eye classes (twice a week, an hour each time), I give trainees exercises that teach them to "turn their brain off" so that they can see things as they really are. Visual artists do this all the time. Proofreaders must do it, too, but most people don't know that.

Sit-ups, push-ups for "brain off" decathletes

The exercises include reading things backward and circling subsets of letters in paragraphs of gibberish. Immediately on the first day, trainees feel the sensation. It's a lot like driving on autopilot -- you know, where you zone out and don't remember the last couple of miles. Through practice, trainees learn to commandeer the on/off switch and keep it off even though it keeps trying to pop back on again.

There's more, but we'll save it for another post.

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The next training session begins July 22. Check out our Facebook fan page to find out what some of the veterans are telling the new recruits.