Polished Prose: Improve Your Writing By Listening To It

Want a super-easy way to improve your writing? Here you go… LISTEN to it.

Writing’s a solitary profession. We live in our heads. However, we write for readers, who can’t divine our meaning — we have to be clear.

The easiest way to improve your writing is to make sure that you read it aloud. You’ll pick up repetition, clumsy phrasing, and typos.

Alternatively, get a text to speech program, and let the program read to you. Mac computers have this facility built-in. It’s been years since I used Windows, but I know that they also have it built in.

Text to speech programs are especially useful if you’re proof reading. They force you to focus on what’s actually on the page, rather than what you think is on the page.

I’m on a Mac, and use Text2Speech, which is free from the Mac App Store. There’s a Pro version of this program which will save the audio as an MP3. This would be useful if you’re offering audio versions of your ebooks, as some writers do. (I have this on my To Do list.)

The free version comes with around 20 voices. I use the Default, because I like it. Some of the other voices are positively weird.

You can copy and past your text into the program, or you can open text files to have them read.

If you’re on Windows, try NaturalReader. You can use it online, or download it to your machine. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t comment on it.

Feedback loops

You’ll find that once you start using a text to speech reader, not only does your writing improve, but you’re also more productive. Apparently this is because your brain creates a feedback loop.

Try it and see…

Angela on Google+

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1. Computer basics – learn simple ways to get more done (and improve your writing)
2. Become a Confident Writer: Stop Listening to the Voices in Your Head
3. Improve Your Writing Skills: Read Aloud
4. 12 Easy Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills In 2012