Once upon a time, I started writing. It was a lonely affair with no fairy Godmothers, nor readers. Then I met BlogchatterEbook festival, Grammarly and a few lovely bloggers who made the fairy tale come true.
I never stop talking about Blogchatter and you know why. But Grammarly I haven’t yet started.
What’s Grammarly?
It’s a fun software and a must have one for your writing resource. I was lucky to study in a Convent school. But English is my second language. I am not a native English speaker. Growing up I read everything that Enid Blyton,Agatha Christie, Satyajit Ray, Sandesh, Upendrakishore Ray, Bankimchandra, Saradindu, Rabindranath, just to name a few. Good books are the raw material which helps you learn to write. They train your mind to recognize flow, good style, and honest quality writing.
But to write well you need practice. Writing practice means writing every day.
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But a necessary part of the art of writing is also good editing and for this, you and I both need help. That’s where editors come in. But should you send your books to the editor after the first draft? No way,unless you want to pay them on EMI, for the rest of your life.
A famous author said he never sends his book to the editor until he has edited it himself at least 20 times. That’s Jeffrey Archer’s advice I read in the Telegraph some time back.
So how do I edit?
In MS Word, there’s an edit option, but that’s limited. With the free Grammarly software as a Google Chrome extension and on Word, you can get tips on editing, sentence structure and more.
The paid Grammarly software unlocks a plethora of advice including emails to your inbox with specific grammar mistakes to look out for, in your writing. It not only helps you edit, but it also helps you learn grammar, one small step at a time.
It’s your Personalized grammar teacher! I like the badges they send me. It’s motivating.
What can Grammarly do?
- Grammar suggestions
- Writing style correction if inconsistent
- Repetitive word
- Sentence structure
- Punctuation
- Grammarly for Words
- Grammarly for Microsoft Office
- Grammarly on your phone
- The Google doc extension is beta
- Missing article
- Misspelled word
- Multiple device access Grammarly
- Critical grammar and spelling checks
- Writing style checks according to genre set
- Grammar rule explained
- Performance stats
- Personal dictionary
- Plagiarism detector
- Vocabulary enhancement tips
- Insensitive language
- Impolite words
- Inappropriate tone or formality level
- Wordiness
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Is Grammarly Free?
The free version is free forever. It has basic grammar and sentence structure corrections and works great. I used it for three years and it was in 2017 that I upgraded to the paid plan.
The premium version
Three premium plans are offered that unlock, among others, more features such as:
- Advanced checks for punctuation, grammar, context, and sentence structure. I needed this for my medical content writing
- Tips for Vocabulary enhancement suggestions.
- Writing styles can be checked according to the genre.
- Plagiarism detector checking more than 7 billion pages.
- Special tips for grammar improvement personalized to your work.
How to self edit as a writer?
For Blog posts
I try to edit my blog posts one day after I finish writing. Preview it, this helps to see the post with a fresh eye, tweak a little more and then publish for blog posts.
For books, it’s a little more detailed.
- I try to write sections on some days and edit on others. I edit each section after writing 3/4 sections. Then edit once more after the book is written completely.
- After this, I make a PDF copy and open it in a different browser.
- Re-edit
- If it’s a kindle book, after finishing edits on MS Word, I mail it to my Kindle account. Then I read it on Kindle.
- Edit mistakes
- Do I still make mistakes? Yes, a lot and all the time. But I try to keep trying. Is there a chance I will be an online grammar teacher? Unlikely. But I can definitely learn and write better.
If I write and edit at the same time, my eyes get glazed and I start skimming through without registering anything. That’s, why you need a fresh pair of eyes after all is done. An editor is important, but if you can’t afford one, then Grammarly will help.
What’s in your blogging toolkit for writing and editing better? Let me know in the comments below.
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Other posts in this series
Blogchatter Ebook festival: Promote your Ebook for free!
How to write a Nonfiction book: The Exact steps to find an idea and grab it
Books as Gifts Secrets behind Blogchatter challenges
7 Blogging Challenge for a Successful Blog: Ultimate Guide
Ebook Carnival :Secrets revealed!
Posts in the Veggies for Life series
Asparagus: Also a medicinal plant
Beetroot: Benefits and worries
Health Food not so healthy:Myth of food labels
Joints: Anti-inflammatory diet
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This software is useful for bloggers as well as writers. I use it too for my professional writing, editing and proofreading.
Yes.Its amazing.
Grammarly is really very important for people who writes a lot. I will use this from next time.
Oh do let me know how you like it.
I am wanting to try out this tool for quite some time. Thanks for the detailed review. Will check out soonest.
It’s more of a quick video maker than an editor
I am using the free version of grammarly and I didn’t know that premium version has so many features. Now I am buying the premium version soon.
It’s more of a quick video maker than an editor
Let me know how you like it
Even I have been using Grammarly, from past 1 year, it’s such a blessing as I don’t have to go through spelling
Exactly .Glad you like Grammarly too!
I was not aware of grammarly software .. It is really interesting.. will gonna try out this one too.
Let me know whether you find it useful.
We do use Grammarly for our writing. It is good and spots errors in grammar and also suggests sentence improvements. By using it we have minimized errors to a great extent.
Yes me too.What’s your favourite thing about Grammarly?
When I wrote my debut book i used Hemmingway app and grammarly both helped me a lot. I love how you present your blog posts.
Thanks for sharing… i have no idea abt this software but afyer reading this i m heading to chk this out
Do let me know, how you liked it!
It feels great to know that you love Enid Blyton and Agatha Cristie too! Although I haven’t read much of Satayjit Ray’s work. I hardly ever use grammarly.
I use it a lot to proof check my post. It is very easy to use and makes my task so easy. I don’t have to re read my post again.
Nice post, agree with you, Grammarly is very useful, I am using the free version of it and it’s useful.
Mam,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Grammarly especially the paid version. Editing is always the difficult part. I use the free version. I am thinking of up- gradation and hence found your post very informative and practical.
Thank you .Glad you liked it .
Grammarly has been on my mind for long. Thanks for this good round-up post on it. Will check it soon.
Heard a lot about Grammarly but never tried. I should check this soon as I hope it will improve my content quality.
Grammarly is a great tool for anyone who wishes to write better. Glad you wrote this post, which will help people get to know Grammarly and it’s uses.
yess this sofeware is love!!
Ok, I use Writers Work to help me write, my blog posts I pretty much just use spell check and grammar stuff , as I type as if I’m speaking to my “client” one on one….and mistakes are natural and raw…….BUT I may just have to check out grammarly as well for writing my blog posts……as I love to get up and write a post everyday and as I want my blog to succeed for my mom and myself. and our dogs (yes they are a big part of my blog too)……..
I personally love Grammarly. At times it’s a tad annoying, but its a saviour.