Monday, February 7, 2011

Latest, Most Favorite Writing Tool

"At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the
most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations? We are talking about tools
and carpentry, about words and style...but as we move along, you'd do well to remember that
we are also talking about magic." --Stephen King, On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft

Thanks, Girl Friday over at Reading, Writing and Ribaldry, for introducing me to my latest, most favorite tool--EditMinion. What a treasure for those of us up to our knees in revisions.

Quoting the page, "EditMinion is a robotic copy editor to help you refine your writing by finding common mistakes. To get started, paste a chapter of writing into the box and click Edit!"

What kind of editing help does EditMinion offer? The site scans the copy, and highlights such problem areas as adverbs, weak words, passive voice. It notes frequently occurring words, and gives a count of how often you use them. It notes misspelled words and--my weakness--sentences that end in prepositions. Appears it also points out cliches, but maybe I'm stronger in that category. After using the site to edit six chapters, not once was a cliche highlighted. Yea!

I just pass on this information in case you'd like to check it out. I'm guessing that you, too, are on a quest to dig deeper and make your writing better. We're always on the look out for tools that might help us master our craft.

And, with any luck and a lot of perseverance, we'll uncover some of the magic Stephen King talks about along the way.

What has been one of your latest, most favorite writing tools?
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13 comments:

  1. JessFebruary 7, 2011 at 11:09 AM

    Wow, that sounds fantastic! As for me, I use thesaurus.com all the time when I'm looking for the right word (I haven't found anything as cool as the tool in your post).

    I'm off to play with EditMinion right now :)

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  2. DianeFebruary 7, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    Sounds like a fun gadget to try. Thanks for the tool! :O)

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  3. Lindsey EdwardsFebruary 7, 2011 at 2:48 PM

    WoW, what a helpful tool. I may have to look into this, so thanks for sharing! :-)

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  4. MelissaFebruary 7, 2011 at 5:33 PM

    Oh this sounds awesome! I need to look into it!

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  5. Karen LangeFebruary 7, 2011 at 10:20 PM

    Now that sounds like a gem! Will have to check it out, thanks! :)

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  6. Tatum FlynnFebruary 8, 2011 at 9:12 AM

    Hey Kenda, Happy you found it helpful! Another great writing resource is the Emotional Thesaurus: http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2008/01/introducing-thesaurus-thursdays.html

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  7. Janet JohnsonFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:23 AM

    Thanks for the tip! I hadn't heard of this. :)

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  8. Terri TiffanyFebruary 8, 2011 at 2:35 PM

    Oh I am sooooo addicted to that site already I almost didn't come back and tell you!!

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  9. Karen StrongFebruary 8, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    I've never heard of this site. I'm in the midst of revision so I'm going to definitely check this out. :)

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  10. WritingNutFebruary 8, 2011 at 11:50 PM

    Very cool.. I've never heard of this site.. but I will definitely check it out :)

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  11. Sandra Heska KingFebruary 9, 2011 at 9:03 AM

    This sounds like a good one. Thanks!

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  12. CarlaFebruary 9, 2011 at 3:06 PM

    How fun! I'm going to check it out now!

    ~Carla @ Carla-Jansen.blogspot.com

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  13. Rachna ChhabriaFebruary 10, 2011 at 10:14 AM

    Thanks for the info about the site. Sounds cool. Will surely try it out.

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