Recently I reviewed a blog post I published two years ago. I cringed.
In the third paragraph was an obvious writing error. Ugh.
How could I have missed it?
Well, it didn’t take long for me to realize what happened.
My workflow has changed over time. Read on to discover what I used to do, what I’ve overlooked, and what I found to help me improve my writing.
My Writing Experience
Since 2010, I’ve published almost 2,000 blog posts.
I started out blogging once a month, then once a week. At one point, I committed to blogging every day for two years. That was pretty incredible!
The majority of my writing in the past 10 years has been WordPress posts on this site.
And when I wrote them, I relied on a grammar and spelling plugin that eventually was built into the Jetpack plugin.
I loved that I could automatically check my writing for spelling and grammar before I published.
But a few years ago, Jetpack removed the spelling and grammar feature.
I tried other writing checker sites and apps, but never found one that worked well for my needs.
I was looking for a writing tool that would check my grammar and offer styling recommendations.
Initially, I was a fan of Grammarly, but privacy concerns led me to no longer use it.
Hemingway is still one of my favorites, since it focuses on style and writing clearly.
But it wouldn’t have caught the spelling error in my two-year old post.
Which is why I was excited to read Daily Writing Tips Best Grammar Checker Apps post.
What Do You Want in a Writing App?
What I liked about Daily Writing Tips post, is the range of different apps they tested and reviewed.
And the information provided to explain what each app is best used for.
Whether you’re looking for a writing app that:
- Checks spelling and grammar
- Explains why something flagged is incorrect
- Provides helpful info for long-form writing
- Helps you write clearly with good style
You’re bound to find an app in their review of seven apps.
Free versions of each app were tested with the same standard piece of error-filled text.
The reviews included details on installation (web-only, mobile versions), browser support, and what type of writer would find the app most useful.
Testing Out the Apps
If I’m going to point you to a helpful resource, I want to check out their recommendations.
I admit, I didn’t test out all the writing apps, but I did use two of them on this post.
First, I used the online After the Deadline website to check my writing. No errors!
I also installed the Chrome extension for Ginger.
I needed to create a free user account for it. Ginger found two errors that After the Deadline missed, offering me suggestions on how to improve my grammar.
Summary
Improving your writing takes time. As Daily Writing Tips points out in their post, there’s nothing better than careful self-editing or an editor.
But when you don’t have that, writing apps can be useful in providing grammar and spelling checks as well as styling improvements for your content.
I’ll be using Ginger for the next few weeks and I may return to using Hemingway as well. I’ll share my experience in a future post.
Do you use any apps to improve your writing? Share your thoughts in the comments.
