Hey everyone,
I’m not a morning person. That’s a bit of an understatement given that in my dream life, I would never have to wake up before noon and no one would speak to me before 2pm (by which time I would have had the requisite cups of coffee and tea to be classed a functional human.)
Which is why, if I’ve agreed to a 9am interview, you know it’s something I really, truly, desperately want to do.
I had one scheduled this morning.
The woman didn’t show.
Oh, she had her excuses blah blah whatever, but now I’m sitting here with an empty calendar, a grumpy face, and another interview scheduled for another morning.
Well, I was. Then I figured, what the hell, quit yer whining Tasha, and use this extra time to tackle something you need to get done and never have time for. So I finished editing one book in my Freelance Writer’s Guide series.
The way I’ve edited these books is that when I published them the first time, I went through them multiple times, revised and proofread, then sent them off to a professional editor for the last round. Since I’m now updating them for second editions, I figured I’d get them done again. I was going to read each book, edit and proofread on my own, and then my plan was to hire a professional to go through them one last time. So I did my own editing and then, on a whim, I decided to try ProWritingAid.*
Wow. Color me officially impressed.
I’ve long avoided apps such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid for no particular reason other than that I didn’t want every last word of voice and style to be edited out. That’s what usually happens when I try to check for Readability through WordPress plug-ins and I don’t need it for my books, thankyouverymuch.
I admit it, I was so utterly wrong. I loved ProWritingAid immediately and have signed up for an annual subscription. It’s picked up so many things the professional editor missed, and by working with it, I’m already noticing my personal writing tics and fallback phrases. I’m beginning to see them when I write, too, which is amazing.
My choice now is whether I want to spend the money and send the books to an editor or spend the time and put them through the ProWritingAid app.*
The first one has taken two full business days to get done and with so much still to do on these books, it’s a toss-up.
I haven’t made up my mind yet. Do you indie publish? How do you approach this?
More tomorrow.
Cheers,
Natasha
* This is an affiliate link, which means that if you purchase using this link, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.