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ON THE GRAM

Jul 27

Open
I use filler words in writing. I scramble around saying, “The point is, there are things which are definitely most important, which we need to make sure we do…” as opposed to “Do these things.” Before sending a book manuscript to my editors, I go through a long list of words and phrases I tend to overuse. In my first book, I cut out hundreds of these. With my second book, I’d been more aware of them whilst writing: but I still found multiple instances requiring the chopping block. Words like “just”, or “kind of”, or “simply”. A word being on the list doesn’t mean it’s automatically removed. There’s nothing wrong with using the word “definitely”, or “in my experience”. What I’m looking for is an overuse of a word or phrase, which distracts from the point I’m making. Your list of words and phrases will be different: but you’re looking for words or phrases which: 🔁You repeat often (enough to notice) - things like “remember”, “simply”, “absolutely” ➕Add nothing more to the sentence (if you removed them, it would say the same thing) - “After all, hiring your first employee is definitely a challenge” vs “Hiring your first employee is a challenge.” 💪Minimise the impact (without them, the statement has more power) - “One of the best ways to protect your cash flow is to send deposit invoices” could be replaced with “Send deposit invoices” Here’s my list. Yours will be different, but I encourage you to start one – even if it only has a few words on it so far! Absolutely Actually After all At least Be able to Because Could Definitely Even In my / our experience In order to Include Just Kind of ….the rest of the list is in the full post (in comments)! ✨Creative headspace goes out every Friday to your inbox, if you want it to! 💪💌✨ #writing #writersofinstagram #bookediting #edits #books #creativeheadspace #fillerwords

Jul 26

Open
They are coming. #lordoftherings #fellowshipofthering #thenazgûl #ringwraiths #getofftheroad #frodobaggins #thering