Two MUSTs for you: ProWritingAid and Office 365’s Read Aloud

I’m in the final stages of proofreading my memoir—a chore that’s super-demanding. It’s the final step before hitting the “send” button.

You’re not ready for proofreading until critique partners and beta readers have given you feedback and you’ve made revisions. 

You’re not ready for proofreading until you’ve read your manuscript at least a hundred times and made oodles of changes and corrections.

Also, consider hiring a professional editor. Always remember: Your goal is a memoir of professional quality.

Take a look at the free version of ProWritingAid (click on that link).

Then click on the orange tab, “Start Web Editor.”

Copy and paste up to 500 words of your text in the box (following the easy instructions you’ll see).

Notice that in the blue-green ribbon at the top, you can choose “Writing Style” and “Language.”

Then notice the ribbon below that. Experiment. Get acquainted with your other choices such as style, grammar, clichés, etc. Don’t miss the diction and repeats tab!

You’ll see an analysis pop up on the left side of your screen. Click on down-arrows for specifics. You can then edit your manuscript as you see fit.

Use the free version of ProWritingAid—it’s a treasure!

When you think your manuscript is absolutely perfect, it’s time to proofread.

Here’s my recommendation:

Look into Microsoft 365’s Read Aloud.

Why? Because brains and eyes hinder us when it comes to proofreading.

 

Our brains know what’s supposed to be there—what we meant to write—and our eyes, influenced by our brains, get lazy and overlook typos or missing words, especially small words like “the” and “an.”

For proofreading, our ears are better friends. Ears pick up irregularities such as missing words or extra words.

That’s why I encourage you to use Read Aloud. Here’s how:

Open the chapter you want to proofread.

In the blue ribbon at the top of your computer screen, click on View.

Next, in the ribbon below the blue, click on Learning Tools. If the letters in your document appear to be spaced apart, click on Text Spacing to normalize the formatting.

Place your cursor at the beginning of your text.

Click on Read Aloud. In a few seconds, you should hear a man reading your text! How cool is that?! All you have to do is read along with him to spot missing words, duplicate words, or other boo-boos.

Your ears will also alert you to words that are clunky or have multiple syllables when you could use a word that’s more compact. You don’t want to interrupt your readers with words that distract them.

Your ears will also help you notice wordiness and sentences that are long, complicated, or arranged in the wrong order. You don’t want to interrupt your readers with sentences that distract them.

To pause and resume reading, use the little tab at the top right of your document. That’s where you can also change the reading speed and choose from other voices.

You want your finished memoir to be as professional as possible.

ProWritingAid and Read Aloud can help you perfect your work.

Strive to do your best: Don’t settle for anything less than a top-notch memoir

If you missed Tuesday's post, click on I’m almost ready to publish my memoir! 

That’s right! I’m soooo close to publishing my memoir! I’ve worked for years to get to this point.

If you’ve never published a book before, you can’t imagine how time-consuming it is, how demanding it is, especially toward the end when the author needs to take care of dozens of tiny but all-important details.

I’ve seen many authors get this close and, frankly, grow so weary of reading their words for the 87^th time (no kidding) that they lose patience—they just want to get it over! So they skimp on their commitment to excellence. They give up on the most tedious and yet most important final details.

Don’t let that happen to you!

My challenge to you is this: Strive to write and publish a memoir that’s the very best it can be. Educate yourself on all aspects of writing and publishing. Look over years of blog posts here at SM 101. Hire editors and proofreaders and cover designers if you need to.

Don’t settle for anything less than a top-notch memoir.

Tuesday Tidbit: We proofreaders need each other!

Lia London left this quote in a comment after Thursday’s post, “The most productive and transformative part of writing a book.” It was too good not to share more widely. Thanks, Lia!

Lia knows a bit about proofreading and editing—she has published a number of books. Currently I’m reading two of them, part of her Little Devotional series. The first book is Parables and Ponderings: When God speaks to us through everyday items and incidents, and the second is Miracles and Musings: Recognizing God’s love in blessings big and small.

Her third book in the series is Knocking and Knowing: When faith is hard to find.

The series includes brief personal anecdotes, reflections on what’s often overlooked yet delightful, all wrapped in ordinary daily events. They will make you smile. Be sure to click on the links above.

Lia is also the founder of Clean Indie Reads, an organization of over 2400 authors, illustrators, and marketing specialists who work in the independent publishing industry.

“The most productive and transformative part of writing a book”

Have you ever re-read something you’ve published and found a grammatical error, misspelled word, or punctuation error? You feel embarrassed, right? If it makes you feel better, you’re not alone—we’ve all found mistakes in our published pieces.

Why don’t we catch those errors before we hit “publish” and send it out into the world?

“Gestalt psychologists were the first to discover that our minds tend to see things not as they are, but as our minds think they should be,” writes Debra Hart May in Proofreading Plain and Simple. “The implications of this phenomenon for proofreading are enormous. Artist and author Carolyn Bloomer, in her book, Principles of Visual Perception, tells us, …‘Your mental “correcting” tends to tune out the very errors you are looking for….’”

A writer can find lots of help in editing and proofreading—from books, blogs, classes, writing workshops, critique partners. (There’s a difference between editing and proofreading. Learn more at Leah McClellan’s post, What’s the difference between editing and proofreading?)

Melissa Donovan at Writing Forward offers 21 tips in Do-It-Yourself Proofreading and Editing Tips. Each one is important but let me call your attention to her point 16: “Start building a collection of grammar books and writing resources so when you do run into questions (and you will), you have access to reliable and credible answers.” I say Amen! to that.

Related to that is Melissa’s point 21: “Make it your business to develop good grammar skills. Read up on grammar or subscribe to a blog that publishes grammar posts (like this one) to stay up to date on proper grammar.” Amen! to that, too.

Ask other writers which books they recommend for editing, proofreading, and grammar. I have the following on my bookshelf: Proofreading Plain and Simple, Keys for Writers, Correcting Common Errors in Writing, Woe Is I, and others.

Melissa’s is one of the most comprehensive lists I’ve seen recently so click over there to take in this rich resource. I printed it so I’d have it as a handy reference, and perhaps you’ll want do so, too.

But I want to add to Melissa’s list. Here are my tips:

• Take a break. Don’t think about your manuscript. If possible, wait a week or two before you set eyes on it again.
• Print your manuscript. Eyes see mistakes on a printed page that they miss on a computer screen.
• Move away from your writing area to read your document—a different room of your house or office, in the back yard, a coffee shop, the beach, the library, or a park.

Here are more tips from Debra Hart May’s Proofreading Plain and Simple:

• Print a portrait (…vertically-oriented) document in landscape (or horizontal) mode.
• Print in a larger or less familiar font. (But choose a serif font… [because] they are easier to read.)
• Work in small time increments—15-20 minutes at a time.
• Take regular breaks to stretch, rest your eyes, and mentally engage from the task.

Editing and proofreading can be tedious tasks, but they are an important part of writing and publishing. If you edit and proofread well (and hire experts if necessary), you can publish a quality book.

Self-publishing done right

If you’re ready to publish your memoir, self-publishing is one option to consider. Self-pub isn’t for everyone, but nowadays it’s more respectable than it used to be. Why? Because many authors are choosing to write well, edit well, and format well.  (Read more at Your Publishing Options.)

Amber Lea Starfire, who consistently offers good advice to memoirists, recently posted 5 Reasons to Self-Publish, comparing self-publishing with traditional publishing.

She lists reasons self-publishing might be your best option:

• No gatekeepers
• Faster Timing
• Full Control
• More Profit
• Continuous Availability

(Click here to read more about each item on her list.)

She cautions that self-publishing takes loads of work and urges memoirists, in the same way I do, to get manuscripts edited and proofed by others in order to craft the most professional book you can.

If you’re thinking of self-publishing, you’ll want to acquaint yourself with all the valuable information Amber Lea Starfire offers here. Click on 5 Reasons to Self-Publish.

Alicia Rades also writes a helpful post, How to Avoid Self-Publishing Regrets. She could write the post because—you guessed it!—she has regrets about the first book she published. “I wish I had taken the time and money to produce a higher-quality book the first time,” she admits.

She offers the following for those who “want your best work out there for the public.”

First, she says, slow down. Don’t rush into publishing. She then lists the following tips:

• Take a breather from your manuscript after each self-edit
• Get feedback; consider hiring a professional editor
• Hire a proofreader
• Pay for a professional cover

(Click here to read more about each item on her list.)

Don’t miss Alicia’s take on self-publishing. Click on How to Avoid Self-Publishing Regrets, and be sure to read comments readers left at the bottom.

And again, like she said, don’t rush into publishing. Take plenty of time to educate yourself and make a wise choice.