Last Updated on: May 3rd, 2021
Admit it. Writing can be both boring and difficult. Sometimes it is a good idea to take a break and play some games, but if you are trying to stay focused, here are a few tools to motivate you, help improve your writing, conquer writer’s block, and make it fun again.
Some unique and fun writing tools include:
A Cliché Finder – a must-have for any writer
BlaBlaMeter – it lets you know how much bullshit hides in your text…
Written? Kitten! – counts your words as you type them and shows you a picture of a dog or a cat every 100 words (or 200, 500, or 1000)
I Write Like – a free, statistical analysis tool, which analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers.
Vocabulary.com – provides a multiple choice quiz to help you learn new words (or to reinforce the meaning of words you might already know
One Look Dictionary Search – a unique search tool that helps you find what you need
I have to give a shout-out to Michele Clements James for the last four tools. 🙂
750 Words – This site tracks your word count, gives you a nice big screen to write on, automatically scrolls as you write (like a typewriter), and automatically saves your writing as you go. It also lets you know when you’ve passed the 750-word mark. 250 words per page is considered to be the standard accepted number of words per page. So, three standard pages are about 750 words. (Yes, I know I already mentioned this tool already.)
YOUR TURN to share:
Share your favorite tool in the comment section. (If you cannot include a link due to the anti-spam plugin I use on this site, simply spell out the URL, and I’ll make sure to include the correct in my response to you.)
Did You Know You Could Become a Freelance Editor?
Being a freelance editor, in my opinion, is even better than being a freelance writer. First of all, it pays more. Secondly, it is the best job I could ever ask for. I love editing, I love words, and I love helping others. Finally, I love reaping the many rewards (check out the many benefits of being a freelance editor).
If you are not currently working at your dream job and want to be a freelance editor, then sign up to get on the “interest list” for my upcoming course!
I am in the process of designing a course that will teach you EVERYTHING about being a work-from-home editor and entrepreneur.
This includes:
– how to get paid up-front… ALWAYS! (before you do any work)
– how to get testimonials
– how to market yourself
– where to find work
– how to leverage social media for your business (because, YES, you will be actually running a business if you are successful!)
– how to keep accurate records
– how to easily calculate your costs
– how to communicate with potential clients so they turn into ACTUAL clients
– how to organize your time (so you can complete all of the tasks involved in running your biz)
– how to deal with difficult clients
– which projects to accept
– when to raise your rates
– AND MORE! (INCLUDING BONUSES!)
Plus, I want to get to know you so that I can give you EXACTLY what you need to succeed!
So, DO you want to know more about how to become a freelance editor?
If so, SIGN UP HERE.
The best tool for any writer is a typewriter, I love typewriters and hope I will buy one someday. I had the opportunity to use typewriters and whenever I used one, my productivity increased ten fold.
Anyways, I do love to write on a computer but there are too many distractions.
Imran Soudagar recently posted…Use Grammarly to improve your content
Imran, my parents had an old typewriter. I loved it, except for when I made typos! I also had an electric typewriter, which fixed the typos I made with white-out. It was neat.
Then computers came along… and even though I still like to write with a pen paper, I also like writing in Word. It’s so easy to fix mistakes!
Plus, the copy and paste function makes editing MUCH easier! 🙂
Wow! so writing can be fun. However will there be time to use all this fun tools or is it okay to use just one? I will check out the whole tools. Thanks for sharing.
Ikechi, you can choose to use whatever tools you like the best! Or… you can choose to use none at all. I just wanted to let you know that writing CAN be fun. Tools such as these often provide a great incentive to write!
Pinned it! I don’t want to lose this one!!! Fabulous! Unless you’re me and then it’s FROGulous!!!
Awesome, Robyn! 🙂
Hi Lorraine
This post is definitely filled with lots of fun writing tools and by the look of things they seem very helpful. Love it! # 1 and 2 being on top of the list is a must have for any writer. By all means one must stay away from the cliche’ and the BlaBla stuff. Thanks for sharing. Have an enjoyable day and a fun filled weekend. Cheers! 🙂
Yvonne, I’m so glad you enjoyed this post! 🙂
Thanks for the comment, but I can assure you that my weekend won’t be enjoyable. We’re putting one of the cats down today. http://bit.ly/11Kec5D
Hey Lorraine
I use far too many clichés. I’m sure I should check that one out. I’m not sure I’ll like what I see though! 🙂
My favourite writing tool is Hemingway. I downloaded the desktop version because it helps me with readability. It finds sentences which are hard to read. It also looks at use of adverbs and the passive voice. The other great thing about it is it gives me a great big white screen to write on without distraction.
There is an online version of Hemingway. It’s at http://www.hemingwayapp.com/.
Tim, I have heard of Hemingway, too. I don’t know why I forgot to include it here.
Thanks for providing a link for everyone, and for sharing. 🙂
I like that you have mentioned readability, too. I’m actually writing an entire post on that very subject! Watch for it next week! 😉
It looks like there’s a tool for everything.
Lois, it certainly seems that way, doesn’t it? 😉
hi lorraine; what a fun post. and the tools do sound so helpful. i tried the i write like site and it said i write like cory doctoro. first, the text i submitted had already been marked up for submitting to my blog later this week. but beyond that I don’t even know who cory doctoro is. is being compared to him a good thing? does anyone here know him? i like the idea of getting fun images as yu finish pages, but it wouldn’t work for me unless they come with audio. i do like the idea of a better word count app. I think I told you one of the reasons i didn’t submit my ebook sooner was number of pages or lack there of. well the site i used to check said i had 14 pages. and i know you are an amazing editor but i find it hard to think you could have stretched 14 into 40 unless this estimate was way off. definitely won’t use that site again. thanks so much for sharing your favorite toys with us. that’s a sign of a real friend. take care, max
Max, Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing (according to Wikipedia). I guess it’s not bad to be compared to him, after all! LOL
With regards to the number of pages in your e-book, I had mentioned to you that a lot of extra space was added when the page breaks were inserted at the end of every chapter. Those were actually formatting issues that I purposely fixed so that you could, in the future, submit your book to CreateSpace to be printed.
I’ll have more good things for you next week… A really long post on readability, which will have even more cool tools to use!
Thanks for your comment, Max. Good luck with those e-book sales!
Fun post Lorraine! 😀 Fun tools too. I liked the first two. 🙂
Deevra, for freelance writers, the first two are particularly helpful, as you don’t want to submit an article that is filled with clichés or bullshit, right?
I’m glad you liked this post. Next week’s post on Readability will be really helpful, too. Stay tuned!
Absolutely. I’ve actually made a note of these two, which I think will be useful for me as a freelance writer. 😉
I agree with you, Deevra! They are very useful tools. 🙂