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I've spent most of the last three weeks on editing my manuscript for Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, due to be released this winter by BWL Publishing.
I'm a spelling and grammar perfectionist. I told you I gave up being a perfectionist when I was twelve-years-old. However, striving for perfection in all of my writing projects is something I will not give up. I believe it is rude not to offer the best writing and cleanest script possible to readers. This attention to detail should also extend to those who are critiquing a piece of writing.
Imagine having your own proofreader and grammar checker at your beck and call. You can if you sign up with Grammarly. I am experimenting with the free version to see if I could get even more help in achieving the goal of delivering a perfect piece of writing to readers. Here are some good and bad points I discovered using Grammarly.
GRAMMARLY
Pros
- Grammarly finds errors as I write this blog, emails, and Facebook status
- Fixing errors is easy. The misspelled word is highlighted in red. Just click on the error to correct it.
- Each week a report on Productivity, Vocabulary, and Activity (and a fun badge award) arrives in my inbox.
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| Second week achievement award from Grammarly |
Cons
- When I'm on a writing tangent, the red lines under my errors are distracting.
- For me, I have to stop and take time to fix them.
- The constant tease of errors missed because I don't have the paid program irks me. It is a way to upsell to the premium program.
- I have not exported a document with a large word count....yet. I think I will export short documents first because all those red lines noting errors may be overwhelming!
After signing up with Grammarly, I learned there are many programs like this one. Amanda Shofner explains the six automatic writing aids in her excellent article at the Writer's Life site sorting their functions into three categories. She spotlights Grammarly, ProWritingAid, After the Deadline, AuthorCrit, Hemingway App, and WordRake.
Click here to read Ms. Shofner's informative article.
Have you used any of these writing aids? Tell us about your experience in a comment below. Thank you.
A GIFT FOR YOU
If you are editing now or will be in the future, I would like to share a valuable cheatsheet developed by my first editor, Karen McGrath. She titled it Villain Words because eliminating these words will eliminate passive voice writing.
Please click here to link to the J.Q. Rose Author Page and like my page. I'll send you the sheet via Messenger. Thank you.
If you prefer, send me an email to let me know you liked my page and I'll email the sheet to you.
If you have already liked my author page, leave a comment below and I'll email the sheet.
My email address is jqrose02(at)gmail (dot)com
BIG NEWS
My publisher, BWL Publishing is offering 25% off my mysteries when using the coupon for Smashwords. The sales price with the coupon is $2.24...Grab them for yourself or your friends! All formats are available. If you have a kindle, order the mobi file.
Click on the titles below to go to the Smashwords Sales Page.
My publisher, BWL Publishing is offering 25% off my mysteries when using the coupon for Smashwords. The sales price with the coupon is $2.24...Grab them for yourself or your friends! All formats are available. If you have a kindle, order the mobi file.
Click on the titles below to go to the Smashwords Sales Page.
Dangerous Sanctuary Deadly Undertaking
Coupon Code KW65J Coupon code AS94U
5 comments:
I have used both Grammarly and ProWritingAid. My Grammarly just expired. I bought with a discount for a year but could not afford to do that again, so I went with ProWritingAid for a year and it is much cheaper. I like them both for different reasons and with use both together. I do still use my Free version of Grammarly and hope to one day use Pro version again. Yeah, the red lines are a deal but it shows me where I am weak.
Juneta @ Writer's Gambit
Hi Juneta, Interesting. I never thought of using both. Wow talk about being perfect!!! That should do it! LOL...
Hey, J.Q. I've heard of Grammarly, but haven't used it. And haven't even heard of those other programs. My regular Word Program highlights a ton of things already! LOL
Many of them good things to change and some just wrong. I run it a couple of times before I send a document to my editor or have Bob look it over. Even his excellent eye misses stuff. Really incredible how that happens. I've just about convinced my lawyer husband, a book will never be perfect. At some point, we have to accept good enough. The red lines are annoying. In this comment, I've got "Grammarly" and "LOL" with red squiggly underlines. :)
LOL,Marsha, the squiggly lines ARE annoying. I especially hate it when G is so OC about commas. It seems modern writing doesn't use as many commas, or maybe, that's just wishful thinking? ,,,, I use Word too to find errors, but hate how it points out the names of people as wrong. And some character's names are doozies....Thanks so much for your input.
I've tried Grammarly--wait 'til you want to remove it. You'll be digging in your registry to pull those long roots. I've also tried and settled down with ProWritingAid. Their latest brainstorm was making it compatible with MS Word and Scrivener. Bought the lifetime license and it's worth every penny.
Anna from elements of emaginette
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