New Writers, Here Are 2 Quick Fixes for Your Most Common Mistakes

Everyone can see them a mile away, but they’re so easy to correct!

As a new writer myself, I know what you’re going through.

Whenever I post something, I check it 5 times before.

For my first few articles, my eyes and brain were doing all the checking.

To tell you the truth, they aren’t the best at quality control.

Then I did a lot of research and found out that the best writers on this site all use these tools to help their eyes and brains.

If you’ve been on Medium for more than a week, you probably already know them and are laughing at me writing about basics, but your loss, because all the newbies will be thanking me, so ha!

So, there’s you, there’s a brick wall made of your mistakes, let’s see what tools we can squeeze between you and pain, shall we?

Mistake no. 1: Your text is not grammatically correct

I’m sad to say that I’ve seen some horrendous texts out there. I’m not a grammar Nazi, I probably have some mistakes of my own, but for the love of God, some things are just unforgivable!

Someone, please call the Queen!

Just kidding, but a grammar mistake does look bad and it takes the focus away from the message of your text.

Plus, the Queen really does mind and you know how much she loves reading your stories!

Quick fix: Grammarly!

It will fix every typo, every misspelled word, every comma out of place. It even told me to add an ‘and’ before ‘every comma’ and I ignored it because I’m a rebel.

Don’t be like me, listen to your Gra(nd)mmarly! It knows best!

I use it for every story. Compulsively.

And I noticed my tests are starting to get better. The app is pointing out fewer and fewer mistakes and that means my writing is improving.

Now, my mistakes are mostly typos and punctuation.

A lot of what Grammarly can do is free and for starters, it’s all you need.

That and love, of course!

Mistake no. 2: Your text is pretentious, shy, and vague

Again sad, but not as much as before, that some articles are just so hard to read.

They are wonky, bulky, pompous!

Now listen, you might be an amazing writer, but your writing style might be better suited for novels. Or snooty readers. From the 19th century.

The reader of today is constantly bombarded by information from a thousand different sources, sometimes simultaneously. He has no time for every twist and turn of your phrase.

So make it snappy!

Quick fix: the Hemingway App

After I’m done with Grammarly, I put my text through the Hemingway editor.

It’s free, online, you don’t need to download anything and it makes your life so much easier.

The app’s main target is, in its own words, to make ‘your writing bold and clear’.

Let it do that!

It gives you hints about everything. For example, how your text might be a bit verbose, or you might be trying to use fancy words just to seem important. Like I did with that ‘verbose’ just one sentence ago.

I am also guilty of overusing adverbs and Hemingway has such low tolerance for them.

I happen to like them, so I keep some but delete at least half of the ones it suggests.

I noticed my favorite adverb is ‘just’ — I JUST loooove using it!

Without these 2 tools, my writing would not be the same.

Sure, it would still be fun, interesting, or cool, but would you have noticed that if it were crawling with grammar mistakes or drowning in a sea of misshaped heavy sentences?

My guess is — no. You wouldn’t have even tried to read it.

Because, just like every other reader out there, you are bombarded by a million things screaming in your face at the same time. And all you need is to be far-far away from them, in a pristine and calm world, all cleaned up by every modern writer’s best friends: Grammarly and his pal Hemingway.

If you enjoyed this story, buy me a coffee!

Thank you for reading until the end, and let’s keep in touch! Subscribe here to get my articles in your inbox.

If you like my stories and want to support me and others or write yourself, come join the Medium community. Sign up for a membership using this link. For only 5$ a month, you get unlimited access to all the stories on Medium, and I also get a small commission. No extra cost to you, and I’d be so grateful!

If you liked this story, you will also like: