Marketing Monday: Grammarly

Working for yourself as a marketer and copywriter means also being your own editor (and accountant and HR department and...). I touched on this lightly in a recent post, but I think editing woes are far from uncommon. I'm always looking for new tips and tricks to better edit myself. If I can print something out and edit with a pen, I will. If I can look at something in a different medium, I will. If I can sleep on something I've written and then return to it a day or two later with fresh eyes, I will. Even sitting in a different chair or a different room helps shift my perspective and see things I otherwise missed. Reading aloud helps me as well.

All of that said, of course, I'm not perfect. I cringe when I spot an error in a published piece. I'm always looking for ways to better my writing and recently discovered Grammarly. It's an app and desktop plugin that highlights mistakes you've made and makes suggestions for correcting them. It's a little like having your English teacher looking over your shoulder and clucking her tongue as needed. A red line pops up under a mistake, and you can then view suggestions for fixing it. Sometimes the rule doesn't work and I use my judgement to override it, other times I'm grateful for the direction. As with spellcheck, you're still responsible for your writing, but it will help you catch some errors and think more carefully about what you're saying, and how.

Grammarly will also send you a weekly progress report with tips and stats that highlights what you're doing well and where there's room for improvement. I'm currently struggling with the incorrect usage of the progressive tense, but my vocabulary is more dynamic (unique/total) than 72% of Grammarly users.

The basic version of Grammarly is free, but you can pay for an upgraded version that identifies more complex issues as well.

Sorry, Ms. Webster. I'm working on it.

Marketing Monday: Edit Yourself

Writing has always come naturally to me. Editing myself hasn't.

Growing up, I used a lot of big words. And a lot of small words. I used all the words, all the time. I got good grades, but it wasn't until my senior year of High School that I started to learn how to write. How to really write: it was the first time I got papers back that were swimming in a sea of red ink. My AP English teacher, Ms. Webster, was kind of my hero, and she's the one who taught me the power of saying more with fewer words. The power of the red pen!

She taught me to cross out every single unnecessary word in a sentence. She gave me a pen and had my physically cross out words on my physically printed out paper. I was 17: I thought they were all necessary - until I started looking at them with a critical eye, red pen in hand, Ms. Webster's voice in my head. This is how I learned the power of words, the power of saying more with less. She's still the one I think of when I edit my own work. She's the one who taught me about word economy, even if I didn't then know that that's what it was called. She's also the one that first taught me to edit my work in a different medium than I wrote it in, in order to help see it differently.

Editing can be tough. I don't know that I've ever felt a piece of mine was complete. Whether it's a blog post, work email, or thank you note, I will almost always find something to change, cut, or better if I come across it again. Even if I felt in the moment that the piece was as good as it gets, something usually surfaces later that I wish I'd done differently. But you know, that's the nature of writing: it's a miniature time capsule of who you are in the moment. As we grow, age, and continue learning, so will our writing change.

All of which is to say that when I came across the Talking Shrimp's (Laura Belgray's) Guide to Non-Sucky Copy (it's free!), I thought of Ms. Webster over and over again. I've learned a lot from it, and I go back to it often to digest and absorb something new. Words are powerful, but their power diminishes as their number grows. Belgray's comments on the passive voice and her examples of how to use fewer words for maximum impact are powerful. I learn something every day in my line of work, but the work of learning to edit myself will never be done. I'm always grateful for another perspective, and if you are too don't hesitate to download this free guide.

Image from pedagoo.com.

(I'm a bit sick of these Keep Calm signs myself, but this one made me chuckle. What is it about editing that feels so threatening?! Friends! Do not fear the red pen!)

Liking Lately: Trader Joe's Staples Edition

Despite having shopped there for, oh, a decade (what year is it?), I'm repeatedly surprised by Trader Joe's convenient and reasonably priced vegetables. I am particularly fond of their chopped and prepared veggies: anything that makes it easier for me to eat more plants with a smaller amount of effort is a-okay in my book.

Specifically, I've been buying a lot of the following lately:

Sliced cremini mushrooms. Sauté and throw on a pizza, add to a soup or sauce. Put them raw in a salad, if you're so inclined.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

Shredded carrots. Chop roughly, or don't, and add to salads, soups, stir-fries, and anything else you can think of. I'm always meaning to quick pickle them and eat them with some Korean beef and rice.

Photo from exploringtraderjoes.blogspot.com.

Cruciferous Crunch. More or less the same base as my beloved Costco kale salad, but cheaper, and I don't have to brave the Costco parking lot for it. I typically eat this mixed with either salad greens or quinoa as a base for my lunches.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

Broccoli florets. We eat a lot of steamed broccoli with meals, so hooray for saved prep time.

Photo from healthydivalife.com.

Broccoli slaw. Saute, throw in stir fry, chop and add to salad or quinoa dishes. I love this stuff, because broccoli stems.

Shredded cabbage mix. Again: Salads! Quinoa dishes! Chop it up and cook it with other greens. Saute with butter and throw it in with noodles, because I hear that's good.

I love shaved Brussels sprouts: I hate shaving Brussels sprouts. Sauté these bad boys with onion and bacon, or make one of my favorite salads (I use one whole bag for the recipe).

Photo from traderjoes.com.

Riced Cauliflower. Again, I enjoy riced cauliflower: I do not enjoy ricing cauliflower. Find it in the refrigerated section, but when you get home feel free to throw it in the freezer until you need it.

Also good: English cucumbers, and cheap bananas. Their cheap basil (and delicious little balls of fresh mozzarella) make my Caprese Pasta a cinch. Recipe to come at some point: it's perfect for summer.

On the other side of the cold aisles, their crumbled feta is my favorite, and I always grab a few containers when in the store.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

TJ's tri-color quinoa is a favorite for both quality and price point (though when Costco has their 4 pound bags for $10, they've got them beat), and I usually grab a bag. I have a big glass container that I keep my quinoa in, and when I get home I throw it in there. I eat a lot of quinoa for lunches, and buying it once in a while and adding it to the mix keeps my stash from hitting threat level orange. Now and then I let the glass jar go fully empty before adding a new container, to make sure it's all still fresh.

Photo from traderjoes.com.

And finally, the Swiss chocolate bars by the checkout. Hoo boy. I try not to buy them too often because they quickly become a dangerous habit, but dang are they good. I am a fan of the milk, and my husband likes the dark. We each get our own bar and are thrilled not to share. Sometimes being an adult is a-okay.

Photo from amazon.com.