So if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed this month with the number of blog posts generated during the A to Z challenge plus the book reviews I try to squeeze in, imagine how I’m feeling. I’ve also sort of committed to a 31-day blog challenge for May, but I think I might space that out a bit more. This every day posting is exhausting!
While all that has been going on, I’ve been experimenting with a few new thingamajigs. For instance, I’ve discovered Google docs. Oh, how much easier this has made my life. I can work from either my computer at school or home which means not having to lug my laptop strapped across my back on my moto in the rain. Quite an improvement, eh? I can also share documents with others. Super Prez had a computer meltdown and lost all our Yacata files, so the current project is redoing all the spreadsheets in Google docs so he and I can both access them.
Another thingamajig I have been trying out is Microsoft OneDrive, but haven’t been as happy with it. Yes, all my files are saved in the cloud, which is nice in the event of computer meltdown, BUT I’m at 97% capacity already and if I want more, well I’ll have to purchase it.
Additionally, I have been playing around with Canva and although it does make lovely graphics, I haven’t been able to download them into a usable format for my blog. I think I just might be better off using good ol’ Microsoft Paint. Plus each little thing is a dollar here, a dollar there. There are free options as well, and you can upload your own stuff, but well, most of the options have a little price tag. I suppose if I had a few extra dollars floating around, it would be a worthy investment, but well, I don’t. You can see my project here. Lovely, isn’t it? But how to get it into my blog? Now that’s the question.
Then there has been Grammarly The World’s Best Grammar Checker. With all this writing going on, there are bound to be a few errors and Grammarly has been rather helpful in this regard. Up until now I’ve been using the free version and have been very happy with it. With an affiliate account, I was able to upgrade for one month to the premium account and I’m loving it!
So what’s the difference? More in-depth error correction including sentence structure, like faulty parallelism, grammar, incorrect verb tense errors, and style, including passive voice issues. There is also a plagiarism checker, not that I plagiarise, and vocabulary enhancement suggestions. I have the option to use British or American English, I use American English of course, and add commonly used words to my own personal dictionary, which is mighty useful since I include Spanish terms in my blog posts.
In addition to WordPress, Grammarly checks my Facebook posts and my Gmail with the app Grammarly for Chrome. There are certainly a number of people on Facebook that would benefit from a little spell check, don’t you think? There are also Grammarly for Microsoft Office, which I don’t use, and Grammarly for Windows apps. Another little option that I was unaware of is the Human Proofreading option through Grammarly. When I get that e-book finished, I think this will be the way to go!
So these are the recent thingamajigs I’ve been exploring in an effort to make my blogging more professional and eye-catching. Do you know of any other thingamajigs that are the cat’s pajamas for blogging? Do tell!
This post was proofread by Grammarly
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Surviving Mexico 