All about that Grammar, and spelling
I’m publishing my fourth book soon, and as usual, I send it to my fantastic editor Tim. However, as usual, I use these experiences to test other things to optimize my process.
I saw an ad in an email in 2017 promising to “get instant grammar corrections on my writing.” It said, “Mind Your There’s and Theirs.” I figured why not. It was a Chrome extension and website that offered on-the-spot grammar editing. It integrated LinkedIn, WordPress, and Gmail to check what I wrote automatically, and I could click the button next to my text to make the edits. Of course, I wondered where it had been when I needed it the most in high school.
After taking that first step in publishing my first book, Blacks in Portraits, and realizing all the rules that I had forgotten from basic writing, I wanted a process that was going to ensure that I was more or less closer to what I was trying to say. After, I would be able to send it off to Tim to work his magic. I enjoyed the prompts whenever I typed an email, but I always ignored an available premium version.
I’m not sure why. Maybe there was a potential trial available or promise to cancel or to return my money? Who knows, I decided to give the premium version a try after I started editing Blacks in Portraits Volume 2, my next book.
In late June, I got Grammarly Premium ($144). Thankfully they sent me an email to highlight the features that I would be using. I downloaded the app on my iPad and Desktop, but there are also web features if you log in. It syncs beautifully in the cloud so I can access my writing anywhere. There are Writing Style Settings, Word Choice Suggestions, Sentence Structure, Confidence Boosters, and a Plagiarism Checker that can be accessed through their suite of products Grammarly Editor online, Browser Extension, MS Office® Add-on, and Desktop app. There’s also a Grammarly Keyboard for Android and iOS.
What does it do for my current edits?
The Blacks in Portraits series comes from my daily posting of information about people I draw for Black History Month. Sometimes, I quickly create a write-up or copy and paste content from sites that I didn’t have time to rewrite and merely link them. When writing and publishing a book, it behooves one to create original content and not plagiarize. So, I went back and copied and pasted the content into the Grammarly Desktop app while I formatted my book.
Here’s what happens when I pasted the original content that I posted about Eugene Bullard:
As you see, I can set goals which I allow the app to do when I start a new document. After selecting what I want, it gives me multiple suggestions:
I can certainly accept them all. However, I wanted to use my favorite feature, Plagiarism, to ensure no additional sources exist that would require citing. I do not want to take credit for someone else’s work or words.
On the Desktop and Web experience, it’s on the bottom right. It gave me a score of 16%. Although that’s not terrible, I want 0%. Observe that Grammarly also shows me where those sources that create these errors are. Nonetheless, I do have an Overall score of how well my writing is doing.
I did some rewording, and this is what occurred:
It shows that my text is 100% original, and the Overall score was now 99! While this is incredible, and of course, I was tempted to think: Is Tim’s job now obsolete? The answer is: Of course not! While this artificial intelligence is improving how I write, in no way is it bridging the gap between what the audience is indeed receiving.
So, of course, Tim came back with corrections and suggestions to make this story magical. He focused on wordings that might be unclear to my audience. I updated “nice to haves” like the name of Eugene Bullard’s pet monkey and nightclub. I edited and pasted it in Grammarly again:
The only issue now is a Squinting Modifier that I should reconsider from the edits. It’s still almost perfect. I can choose to either accept this arbitrary suggestion or discuss it with Tim.
I wish these services were available when I took AP English as part of my magnet program in high school. I did have teachers who discouraged me from writing. It would have been wonderful to explain how this process would change in the future — and maybe their jobs would be obsolete.
If you love words as I do, consider checking out some other places I found on my journey. I love Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips podcast, and I also tried the Lavender Chrome extension for emails.
