Are you sounding like the Little Engine?

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell

“I think I can, I think I can.”

That’s been my mantra for so long and yet I feel as though I’m writing in circles.

One of my WIP, the story that started it all, is going nowhere. I have so many starts, middles and endings, I can’t make heads or tails of it.

But this little vixen won’t leave my mind. So one day I’m gonna have to wrestle her to the page and get control of her story. Sigh.

Today I read an interesting article. If you know anything at all about me, you know I’m a techie. So this new program caught my eye.

A critic’s second thoughts on robo-writing  by Chris Berdik

I use several programs for grammar, spelling, formatting, and reading aloud. But this one has a bit of a different take on editing. WriteLab. After selecting the free trial button, always a go to when trying a new program, I uploaded a selection of my aggravating WIP.

The results were very thought-provoking. For instance WriteLab pointed this out about a couple of words in one sentence.

  • Coherence
This is an unusual phrase. What relation does innocent have to rhyme? How familiar are readers with this relation? Will they be informed or confused by it?robot-36984_1280
In addition to Coherence, the program checks for Cohesion, Logic, concision, Emphasis, and Elegance.
I don’t any program, no matter how smart will ever replace the imagination and talent of the individual writer.
However, after running this program on a small section, my mind is spinning. Sometimes a fresh, unbiased, logical evaluation can get us unstuck. I think I’m ready to take a crack at this elusive story one more time. Wish me luck.
How about you? Are you struggling with a WIP?
Have you found something to help with that struggle?
You’ve made it this far so give me just two more seconds and hit Facebook and Twitter and share.
Thank you!
If you’re not already, I’d be much obliged if you would follow me @jeancogdell on Twitter or jean.cogdell on Facebook!
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12 thoughts on “Are you sounding like the Little Engine?”

  3. I am presently stuck on a WIP. Don’t know where to take it – I guess the ideas will come when I least expect it. I like to write like I am seeing a movie in my mind, and right now there is static in my brain. I don’t think any program can help me with. Sometimes I just sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits. That’s kind of where I am right now, just sitting, no thinking.
    Good luck on progressing with your WIP!!!!!!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. That is usually the time I get up and write. Seems like my brain is at it’s freshest. My characters usually show up in my brain when I am driving, and by the time I get where I am going, they are hiding again in the recesses of my mind. Most annoying!

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  4. Scrivener has helped me greatly to organize and re-organize my WIP. It’s also a great place to store all the references and sources and you can do a zipped backup of the WIP at any time to make it easier to share between laptop and desktop or keep in cloud storage.

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