You know that moment when you think you’ve polished a piece of writing to perfection? Savour it, because the next time you read over it, you’ll wonder how you missed all those clumsy word choices, awkward sentence constructions, and frank errors.
I’ve been immersed in editing two of my ‘works in progress’ over the last few months and have discovered the joys of automated editing tools. These computerised tools use complex algorithms to highlight aspects of your writing which may need attention.
Of course, word processing programs like Word do this to some extent, e.g., underlining questionable grammar and typos in red. But these automated editing tools do much more. For a review of six popular tools (After the Deadline, Autocrit, Grammarly, Hemmingway Editor, ProWritingAid, Word Rake) see: https://thewritelife.com/automatic-editing-tools/. They all offer free trials, and most provide a free version, with the option to upgrade at a cost.
The tool I have been using is Autocrit and it’s teaching me a lot about my writing habits. For example, long paragraphs, repeating words, and too many fillers (most notably, ‘that’). Yes, it does get tedious, but I think the end result is successfully moving from ‘polished’ to ‘burnished’.
