Justifying
Do you look at your writing before releasing it to the world? Days or even hours later, I’m shocked at the editing I need. The real surprise is unnecessary wording. Every writer has an Achilles heel, an unneeded and over-repeated word creeping into their sentences. How do you find them? There’s nothing like a limited word count to reveal the extra baggage. It’s like turning on an infrared light in a hotel room, except with word count you want to see what appears.
Although ‘that’ is a close second, my favorite is ‘just’. Just because you just want to say something, doesn’t justify the overuse of this one-syllable, watering-down wuss of a word. I beg of you, please go back. Look at your writing before it’s too late. Before you share, post, or send, think of your friends. Read it again, tear and rend. Kick those stowaways overboard.