My Favorite Editing Tool

By Cindy Ervin Huff @Cindyhuff11Huff

If you are looking for an editing tool that will improve your writing and can be used in any genre of writing, I have the program for you.

I love ProWritingAid because I get so caught up in my story I don’t notice typos and grammar errors and let’s not mention poor sentence structure and weak verbs. I have the ProWritingAid installed on my Word program. I open it when I’m working on my novel or other projects, and it underlines in a variety of colors things the programs thinks you might need to correct. It catches those irritating typos I make. And challenges my word choices.

It can be set to edit either fiction or non-fiction. ProWritingAid has a list of things you can ask it to review for you. I purchased the professional version but there is a free one available. That is a great way to test drive it.

This program is another tool that helps me see what I’ve missed in the past. All those accidental extra spaces. Unnecessary adverbs and forgotten capitalization. It will catch repetitive and overused words and those weedy words like just and that. It also notes the overuse of pronouns within a paragraph.

Although it is awesome, it doesn’t take the place of an editor. And sometimes the options it offers to improve my sentences are not to my liking. If I would accept all those sentences changes, it would no longer be my voice. ProWritingAid is an editing tool that helps make your draft as clean as it can be before submitting it to an editor.

Why pay an editor to correct your grammar when you can use that money for deeper edits. Submitting something with overlooked typos, misspelling and incorrect grammar will get you an immediate pass from any publishing house.

There are other editing tools out there, and I have tried a few. But ProWritngAid to me is far superior than all the others. I’ve also installed it on my browser so it catches all sorts of errors as I make comments or write emails, even emails on others websites so my wording always comes across as professional. Now if I get in a hurry, my mind ignores the color lines. And I don’t think PWA can be put on my phone, so you’ll find typos on my social media and in my text messages.

ProWritingAid is not an AI program therefore there is no chance for plagiarism. AI programs grab samples from all over the internet. And now that publishers are considering running potential clients’ work through a program that identifies AI work, we best make sure our words are our own. ProWritingAids suggestions help me think of ways to reword a sentence or paragraph. It doesn’t write my work for me.

An additional note, it works with the dictation app as well. When I used it after I broke my wrist, ProWritingAid caught words the dictation program misheard and noted places with missing punctuation. So cool.

Cindy Ervin Huff is an Award-winning author of Historical and Contemporary Romance. She loves infusing hope into her stories of broken people. She addicted to reading and chocolate. Her idea of a vacation is visiting historical sites and an ideal date with her hubby of almost fifty years would be the theater. Visit her website at www.cindyervinhuff.com, or Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.