May 18, 2020
What are your top five writing mistakes? Either mistakes you make or mistakes that make you cringe when you see them in print?
Eight books in, and I’ve learned a lot. I’m not perfect by a long shot, but I know what to watch for. That doesn’t mean I don’t slip and have to go back and correct myself, but at least I make the same mistakes less often. Here’s my top five.
- Overusing “was.” The dog was. John was. The reason for my anxiety was. You get the drift. The word is unavoidable, but using it too much isn’t. I’m better, but still have to watch my words. And figure out how to find better words to use when I am editing.
- Same thing with ‘sigh.’ I won’t bore you with examples. I challenged myself to write the current book without a single use of sigh. (The
Samurai’s Inro, coming June 1st.) I need to go back and check, but I think I won the challenge. - Commas. I think the rules about commas were created to make us crazy. Heck, even the on-line grammar checkers can’t agree on commas. And I’m not talking about different grammar checkers giving different results. I’m talking about the same grammar checker giving different results at different times. Before you ask – Oxford commas are a yes in my book.
- I’m a pantser. That means I don’t have everything all plotted out before I write a story. That also means I occasionally lose track of story time. It is Thursday or Friday? I have to go back to a known day and start counting. No one has ever called me out on messing up a day, so I think I get them right in the end.
- This one is not me, but I cringe every time I see it in an on-line forum. In fact, I see it so often I’ve begun to doubt myself. People who are using barley instead of barely. Is autocorrect doing that? Or is it a matter of bad typing and not paying attention? I never noticed it until the last year or two. One is a grain, and the other is an adverb. How do you mix them up?
That’s my five. It won’t surprise me if there’s a lot of overlap with other authors on this loop. You can check it out by following the links below.
Until later, stay safe out there.
May 18, 2020
What are your top five writing mistakes? Either mistakes you make or mistakes that make you cringe when you see them in print?
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