Divas Rec: Cut These Seven Words

Before we get into overused words and phrases in writing: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! *Throws confetti* It’s 2016 and time for some new resolutions. I resolve to write for myself at least an hour a day. We’ll see how that works out for me. Ha!

Anyhoo…

Way back in 2013 one of my articles about overused words and phrases got a small amount of attention when it was shared and retweeted by Kindle Unlimited. To me that’s a great success. Little old Diva Lauren wrote an article people read and enjoyed. Go me and go Write Divas! My bubble of excitement soon burst when I read some of the comments people left on Facebook and Twitter.

We all know those comments, am I right? They didn’t agree with many of my suggested overused words such as is and was. “How can you overuse the word is? It’s impossible!”  Ugh! For a quick moment I thought words like is or was needed to be in left in. Then I smartened up and realized I shouldn’t second guess myself again based on what a few readers had commented wrongly on.

There, I said it: They were wrong. Oh, that feels good to say. *Happy sigh*

I stuck to my guns in my right assessment as author after author I had read or edited overused passive voice in their books. Why didn’t they see these overused words like I did? After almost three years since my original article had published, I found that it was time to remind writers what they could do to eliminate overused words and phrases in their work. This time I found a simple article to share along with my own that can help strengthen any author’s writing. Want to Be a Better Writer? Cut These 7 Words by Joe Bunting is an excellent article that tells you how and what words and phrases to edit from your manuscripts. Take a look and leave him a comment.

And here’s my article again: Overused Words and Phrases 

Later!

Lauren Schmelz (127 Posts)

Lauren Schmelz has been in the publishing and broadcasting field for over twelve years. She got her start editing and producing traffic news for local news affiliates in St. Louis, Missouri (NBC, CBS, and FOX). For the last four years, Lauren has worked as a freelance editor/manuscript advisor. Lauren was Managing Editor of Manuscript Development for the last year and a half at a small independent publisher. Currently, Lauren is a founding Diva with Write Divas and specializes in manuscript development, content editing, copy editing, marketing, and publicity. As COO of Write Divas LLC, Lauren oversees the daily operations of staff and client projects to optimize efficiency and serve authors with the highest quality of work whether it is the edit of their manuscript or the promotion of their marketing campaign and blog tour. She is married and has two young daughters. When Lauren isn’t editing or reading manuscripts, she is busy playing with her kids and exploring her hometown of St. Louis with her family. She is an avid reader, writer, movie enthusiast, and generally a smartass. Lauren hopes to publish her first book within the year. Lauren has worked with such authors as: M.A. Stacie, C.L Parker, Brian Sweany, Suzy Duffy, Jennifer Schmidt, Alexandra Richland, Alexandra Allred, Michele Richard, Liv Morris, and Joey Mills.