Everyone Needs A Fixer

December 15, 2021

I mentioned ProWriting Aid. It is a powerful program that can set your grammar straight. Face it, you might can tell a story, but that doesn’t mean you have stellar grammar skills. 

It Has Made Me A Better Writer

Using ProWriting Aid has made me a better writer. I ignored many suggestions the program made in my first novel. I thought I knew better. 

But, the more books I wrote, the more I paid attention to the suggestions. I didn’t always make the changes the way it suggested, but would change something to make it a better sentence or paragraph. Sometimes when writing fiction you want it to be different for a reason, but not too often.

Program or Online

I use the actual program that I bought and put on my MAC rather than the free online version. The program is easier to use with your documents because it is always accessible and provides many more tools. 

When it highlights a word it will highlight in different colors based on the type of error it has flagged. Misspelled words are one color and misused grammar is another color. 

Take Your Time

You do not want to fly through this process. Take the time to look at each flag and if necessary read it commentary regarding why it flagged that word. One of our greatest enemies is the feeling that we need to hurry and get 'this' done.

I have a weird type of dyslexia where I swap things in my mind. I have worked hard my entire life to overcome and I have to say that between God’s healing and my own concentration, I barely notice it any more. 

Where Do You Always Goof Up?

One common mistake I often do when writing is swap phrases. A portion of a sentence that should go in the beginning is swapped with the other half of the sentence. 

ProWriting Aid flags these almost every single time and I am able to rework the sentence so that it makes sense to the rest of the world. 

Another idiosyncrasy of mine is that I type so fast I often leave off the last letter of a word. So, if I am typing the word books, you will see I have typed it as book. That is not a typo. The word is spelled correctly, but it may not make sense in the sentence. ProWriting Aid may or may not flag it. depending on if it could fit within the sentence. 

Not Just Once and Done

It is safe to say that I run my novels through ProWriting Aid up to a dozen times before I am finished and ready to give to my flesh and bone editors. We often change or tweek things and with each change another run through is warranted.

I can’t emphasize enough that as powerful as this tool is, and as important as it is to my writing process, it cannot take the place of real people who are reading and flagging errors. They will however be able to do their job so much easier if you have used a grammar program many times prior to giving the manuscript to them to edit. 

It Does Not Take The Place of Real People

Don’t swap out one for the other. A program like ProWriting Aid will make you a better writer if you will take full advantage of what it has to offer. 

Then, when your editors review, they will be able to catch so many more mistakes that were not caught in the program. You need both. They are both equally important.

You can buy ProWriting Aid Here (I get a small affiliate reimbursement).

I want to encourage you to leave me any comments below. They are so encouraging and motivating to me. 

Nancy

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