By Sheena Carnie

First published on PEGBlog (12 May 2026)

After a year spent running frantically on the hamster wheel of life (and with our gardener on leave), it was wonderful to take some time off in December to spend a few hours mindlessly pulling weeds from our garden. As I weeded, I had a few thoughts that might resonate with others who may need reminding. These points apply to all the challenges we face in life – and how we tackle editing.

• Soften the ground before you begin. Weeds are always easier to pull up if you water the garden first. In editing terms, for me, this means defining styles, formatting the manuscript, and generally tidying it up.
• Don’t get overwhelmed by the big picture of a garden overrun by chickweed (or a manuscript requiring extensive reshaping). Instead, focus on what is directly in front of you. Every weed you pull up is one less in the garden, one less to spread seeds and multiply. In editing terms, this means working through the manuscript one paragraph at a time. Every sentence you work on is one step closer to the end, and every individual correction or improvement you make will have a cumulative impact on the final product.
• Use the right tools. Sometimes that is a trowel or garden fork, but often it’s your fingers. It takes a human touch to feel how deeply the roots go and to wiggle them loose. In the same way, although most editors use tools such as Microsoft Editor, PerfectIt or Grammarly, only a human can understand fully the feel of the work and weed out the parts that threaten to smother the ‘flowers’ that the author has lovingly planted. Use the tools at your disposal when appropriate, but don’t abdicate your responsibility to do the work yourself.
• Don’t just attack viciously from above in the hope of covering more ground in less time, or you’ll uproot plants you didn’t intend to eradicate. In editing terms, you can’t just take a blanket approach to editing a manuscript and apply rules without carefully considering the context of each word.
• Get to the root of the problem. Pulling off pieces of weeds is useless if the roots have been left behind to sprout again. As an editor, if you don’t understand what the author is getting at, follow the trail to the root by doing some research or contacting them immediately to figure it out. More than one of your queries may be resolved.
• Stop when you feel yourself slashing away without focusing on individual weeds, or you will miss many of them. As editors, sometimes we’re tempted to push on and work even when we know we’ve reached our limits. Don’t do it! (Speaking harshly to myself here.) You do yourself and the author a disservice if you push yourself so hard to reach a deadline that you can’t focus and start getting sloppy. Rather, negotiate an extension and come back to the work when you’re in a better frame of mind.

These points apply to all the challenges we face in life – and how we tackle editing.

• Step back every so often to appreciate what you’ve accomplished. Sometimes it feels as if you’re not really making a difference if there are still weeds in front of you. It’s a wonderful feeling when you walk away from the patch you’ve been working on and can see how much progress you’ve actually made. In the same way, when you’re editing, sometimes it’s helpful to step away from the work for a bit before re-reading it, and then to give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
• Try to prevent things from getting messy and sore. I’m not the regular gardener, so I don’t have garden gloves and boots, or muscles honed for this particular form of ‘exercise’. As a result, my hands and feet got very dirty, and my body complained bitterly about all the bending and squatting required. My body also took a bit of a beating last year from editing – things like eye-strain, repetitive stress injuries in my elbow of all places, and hip pain all showed up as a result of my body being forced to sit and work for too many hours. The plan is to be kinder to myself in 2026 and to take more breaks; let’s see how that works out.
• Look out for the flowers that bloom. Removing the weeds in our garden opened up space for some lovely new plants, and I can’t wait to see them flourish. In editing terms, your authors are going to love seeing their work bloom as a result of your weeding out all the errors and tidying up the ‘flowerbeds’ as a whole. Soak in that glory – and then get ready to dive into the next job.

Despite the extra aches and pains, I felt fabulous after a productive morning in the garden. Here’s trusting that in 2026 you all experience the joys of literal and figurative weeding; it is quite therapeutic.