Editing tools: Hemingway app

A couple of jobs came my way recently that required editing for plain English, so I thought it might be time to try the Hemingway Editing app and I can't wait to use it again.

It tells you the reading level of a piece of writing and highlights issues that might make it more difficult for readers. You then go through and edit the highlighted text, removing or simplifying complex words or concepts and ‘chunkifying’ the information, and you can check in with the reading level to see if it's easier to read.

It’s doing what I was already doing when editing for plain English, but being able to spy the reading level ensures that I keep going until I’m really happy with the degree of access and comprehension. In a way, it feels like the app gamifies editing for plain English. Passive wording? Overly complex sentences? Jargon? I won’t stop until I’ve caught ‘em all!