With almost seventy percent of Americans wanting to write, one would think there would be far more tools out there. It has taken some time to find the best. Let me save you some time and effort.
My first breakthrough in my quest to find economical sources for critiques and editing was Critique Circle. My second breakthrough I found in their forum, ProWritingAid. Here's why you should use both of them:
- You get both sides of the coin as a writer
- You save a ton of money on editing
When you write, you may experience a cycle of content and discontent. In other words, there may be times when you hate your work or get sick of it. Dorothy Parker once said, "I hate writing, I love having written." It's easy for a published author of several novels to say it's a wonderful career. He or she has completed their work and it was accepted.
But, when you're in the middle of a novel and you're running out of steam, you may need a break. That's when I head on over to Critique Circle and start reading someone else's work. It's FREE but you can upgrade for more benefits. The most that would cost is $10 for one month or less than $4 a month if you pay for the year. Well worth it if you have an entire novel written.
Here are a few of the benefits I've experienced:
- I discovered I know stuff (grammar, spelling, punctuation)
- It felt really good to help someone else do what I want to do
- By critiquing as a reader, I learned more as a writer
- I realized, as a writer, I'm not alone
- The buddy system is almost like being in college
- The two to one ratio of critique/getting critiqued kept me writing
- I was compelled to be courageous and let someone else see my work
- I found critiques from strangers far more honest than friends and family
- I've saved time, money, and potential embarrassment
At Critique Circle (CC), they call critiquing "critting" -- which would make us "critters," I guess. Here's a video on how it works.
CRITIQUING AT CRITIQUE CIRCLE
Before you post your blog, assignment, short story, poem, or chapter, head over to Grammarly or ProWritingAid. "Critters" only have a certain amount of time and patience. If the work is riddled with spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, and the person doing the critique has a time crunch, it's a waste of the writer's and reader's time. At ProWritingAid, you can copy-paste your work into their writing tool and fix the English.
They also have a plagiarism tool and a lot of other goodies but ProWritingAid is only free for the first 500 words. Premium is $40 for the year (or less if you buy two years and so on--pro-rated). Consider the cost of editing (average of $35/hour) and you'll see it's worth it.
If you know about other economical tools and groups that have helped you as a writer, please share the information in the comments below. You can also let me know what information you'd like to see in the next blog.
See you at Critique Circle.