Six Things the ProWritingAid Editing Tool Taught Me That Might Help You

by Elva Cobb Martin

I finally bit the nail and bought an editing tool before sending out my latest novel proposal. I checked out several editing tools but ended up buying ProWritingAid for an annual fee of $40.

One of the best things about it is that I could buy the version that integrates with MSWord. ProWritingAid is now right up in my Word top menu bar that I can click on after I pull up any document I want to edit. I can click on "Full Edit" or any of 25 individual edits. You can check out the program and get a sample edit at ProWritingAid.com   And no, I am not receiving any kickbacks!  ( :

Frankly, it's like having a highly skilled editor looking over your shoulder.

Six Edits That Are Making My Manuscripts Shine:

1) Repeated Words  --it's amazing how often I repeated without realizing it.
2) Cliches and Redundancies- - we all have favorites that slip in
3) The Dialogue Tags check - use action beats instead

4) The Sensory Report - helps you write using all five senses
5) The Pacing Check - very good to know if this is going well
6) The Grammar Report - catches everything besides spelling--including two             periods or even an extra space between words that pop up in my writing.

One of the first things I was glad to find out was the Reading Level of my ms.

ProWritingAid does much more--The Writing Style Report (very comprehensive), Thesaurus Check, Diction Report, Vague and Abstract Words Check, the Plagiarism Report, Sentence Length, Transitions, Consistency, and Sticky Sentences full of glue words that can be rewritten for greater clarity.

Needless to say I am happy I now have this "editor over my shoulder" to help hone my writing.

Have you found a great editing tool? Would love to hear from you. And please do share this on your social media by clicking on the small icons below.

Blessings,
Elva Cobb Martin