Whatever you write,
it’s best to first get it drafted without worrying about revising or editing.
(Yes, I have read Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird too!)
Believe me, no one wants to stymy a writer’s creative juices by insisting early
editorial polish is necessary less than an editor. Whether you are writing a
blog post, an essay, a report, or an entire book, getting the content out of
your head is the first giant step.
Before you ask
anyone to read your work, however, some self-editing is a good idea, even if
professional editing is planned. You never know what early/beta reader might be
turned off by easily avoided mistakes.
You can employ methods for self-editing (such as reading what you have written aloud and running a spell check), but here are five online tools you can use first, as readily and quickly as any editor can.
You can employ methods for self-editing (such as reading what you have written aloud and running a spell check), but here are five online tools you can use first, as readily and quickly as any editor can.
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2. A dictionary
site. Then we have
regular words . . . so many, many regular English words. My standard (and those
of many American publishers) is Merriam-Webster, but here is a secret about
looking up spelling. If you type the word you want to check into a search
engine and then Merriam right after it, you can probably see the spelling you
need in the results without even clicking onto the actual Merriam-Webster site.
Type into Google, for instance, complacent Merriam, and you’ll see the
Merriam-Webster entry come up in results, even if you misspell the word complacint.
When in doubt, however, go to the dictionary site. Bonus: You can often
see the definition in the results too, which can save you from mixing up stationery
(think envelope) and stationary (think standing still).
3. A bookseller’s
site. On the site
for a bookseller with a broad offering (Amazon.com being the most well-known), you can
look up the exact book title and author spellings, punctuation, and
capitalization. Is it Alice in Wonderland by Louis Carol? Nope. It's Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Be sure, however, you look at
the image of the book's cover whenever possible. People and publishers
don't always get correct information in their data feeds, but usually so many
people have signed off on the images before they are sent that they are error
free.
4. An entertainment
database site. Citing a movie, TV
show, or actor in your piece? Want to say what year you saw that film in the
theater when it first came out, but you can't remember what year that was? For
all the reasons given above, try IMDb. For instance, the movie is not called The
Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And
Jim Carrey does not spell his name Cary.
5. A Bible
translation site. If you use Bible
Scripture in your writing, avoid falling into the “translation by author”
syndrome by using a Bible translation site. I am partial to BibleGateway.
Lots of us think we know how a certain verse or passage goes, but really we are
quoting the gist or general meaning . . . or how we sort of learned it in
Sunday school when we were eight years old. Ensure you are not only quoting
exactly but you are citing which translation you are using and what the correct
book, chapter, and verse(s) actually are. Of course, if you are purposefully
paraphrasing, say so. Bonus: It might be tricky to determine on a Bible
site, but one way or another, be sure an adage you think is in the Bible really
is in the Bible before you say it is!
No one is asking
you to learn to be a professional editor; some of us who are professional editors would just as soon keep that role! But you can spruce up your writing
without a lot of time or trouble. So . . . why not?
Do you use other
tools you'd like to share? Any hints?
**http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=27316&picture=tools