Before you send it, read it back in the voice of someone who isn't on your side.
Out loud, if you can. Slowly. As if you were in a room with no sympathy in it.
What you're listening for
- The sarcastic aside. It never reads the way you meant it once it's printed.
- The line that scores a point. Satisfying to write, costly to have read back.
- The phrase that only makes sense if the reader already agrees with you.
If any line makes you wince, cut it now, while cutting it is still free.
Why reading aloud works
By the time a message, or a statement, is nearly finished, you've lost the ability to see it. Your eye slides over what it expects. Reading aloud is a cheap trick for getting that back: your ear catches what your eye has stopped noticing.
The lines you're proudest of are the ones to check hardest.
Do the same on statements
Before anything is filed, reread it specifically for:
- absolutes like "always" and "never"
- diagnostic labels
- speaking for your children
- quotes you haven't checked against the full original
Four passes, a few minutes.
It's the highest-value edit you'll ever make on this material, and the one most often skipped, because by then you're tired of looking at it.
General information, not legal advice. Court process differs between countries and regions; check anything that matters to your case with a qualified lawyer where you live.
Chapter 18 of the workbook covers communicating on the record. Worksheet M ends every draft with the read-aloud check, and Worksheet L includes the four-pass review of your statement before it's filed.
See the workbook & spreadsheet