You may think you're through writing your article and that it's now ready for publication. But after writing, you're not really done.

You might not know it, but you can prune down that 750-word article you've just finished into one that's only 500 words or less.

And guess what?

I bet short version would still be as effective as your original article, if not more.

Writing is all about communicating. It's about getting your message across to your readers simply, quickly, and effectively.

You don't just send in your first draft to your editor or publish it right away without looking it over first.

Re-writing. It's key.

Actually, it's most crucial step in writing process.

It can be a frustrating thing to do especially when you're still in "writer mode" and you believe you've written a brilliant piece.

But realize this: Re-writing your article will definitely pay off.

So here are 5 re-writing techniques you can use:

Technique # 1: Stick to your central theme or idea. Don't insert bits and pieces of information about other things. Read through your work carefully. You're bound to find ideas, words, phrases and sentences you can strike out.

While film was amusing, pulled all right strings and made teeny-boppers cheer on, its title is a case of bad grammar.

Yup, saying, "I can't hardly wait" is bad grammar.

Why?

Because it's a double negative.

Consider this sentence: "I don't want no sympathy from you."

Now, let's assume that person who said above statement really doesn't want any sympathy. But sentence implies that what person doesn't want is no sympathy -- which means, he or she wants sympathy. However which way you look at sentence, it is grammatically incorrect.

If person doesn't want any sympathy, he/she should say it either:

I don't want sympathy from you.

OR

I want no sympathy from you.

* The subtle double negatives

Writers and speakers who always strive to write or speak correct English have less problem on double negatives. However, some words used in a negative sense are not recognized as negatives right away. They are sometimes combined with another negative and form a subtle double negative.

Here is a list of these subtle negatives:

seldom but (used as "only"> just merely barely hardly except only scarcely neither ever rarely nothing nowhere