Monday, July 21, 2008

Off On A New Tangent - Look Out!

SEE that little widget over there on the left? The one that says StoryToolz?
It is a Web site that supposedly improves your writing, making you Ernest Hemingway overnight.
Well, realistically, it actually doesn't make that claim. However you can "deposit" what you've typed into your blog and find out the intellectual level your readers should possess before they attempt to read your pithy submissions.
I took the last blog entry and fed it into the StoryToolz "checker" and found out that the education level my readers would need is FIFTH GRADE! I hope everyone is up to that. If you've been having any trouble, please let me know.
I'm a little disheartened, which is why you will find larger words in this entry. I'm chastising myself for not challenging my readers a little more. If only I had perceived there might be problems ahead.
StoryToolz also "graded" me on how many paragraphs were in my entry. Since Blogger doesn't allow paragraph indents, I had one long paragraph with lots of words. The StoryToolz automatic grader must think I'm an idiot. Perhaps I am, but I intend to use the tools on this Web site to improve my writing. I haven't been doing much of it lately, except for the blog entries, and that really should change.
But, I digress. (Now that word should be worth something!) One of the tools I really like is the plot generator. The Web site will give you three elements to a story and you take it from there. During Nanowrimo I can not think of a tool that would be more beneficial. (Another word score with that one.)
Tell you what: Since it's 9 p.m. on the desktop clock, I'm going to sign off for now. I can't wait to enter the contents of this blog and see what I score - or actually, what you score. (I'm gone now for a second.)
Instantly done! We're up to sixth-grade level. I can feel your excitement. On one of the readability scores, we were approaching eighth-grade level! Overall, however, we were only up to sixth.
I guess I'll read the dictionary tonight before bed - femminismo
P.S. Incidentally, if you sign up for StoryToolz, mention my name, OK?

2 comments:

Candace said...

Jeanne, what a fun idea and I will mention your name for certain. What an egregious effrontery to grade your blog as having only the one paragraph. (How am I doin' so far?)

Best of the rest of the week.
Candace

femminismo said...

You are doing great. Actually, in visiting the site again, I think mentioning my name is only going to do me good if I pay for the site and then you pay for the site - for the greater benefits you'd get by paying. This might be good info for those who actually make money off their Internet sites ... and that's not me! Well, not yet anyway.