When you’re working with a writer to produce personal or professional content, and where they really need to get inside your head, it’s important to be quite specific – and constructive – in the feedback you give them after the first draft.

These are all instances of bad feedback:

• Rephrase this
• Say more about this
• I don’t like this sentence

None of those are helpful – we need to understand why or how you want us to fix things. If you don’t like a sentence, give the writer a clue. What don’t you like? If you want them to rephrase, explain why the current wording doesn’t work. And if you want them to say more – tell them what else you want them to say.

The more specific you can be, the better the final result will be, and the sooner you will get a final version that says what you need it to say.