Song of the day- Mercy by Duffy
In case your were holed up somewhere without a calendar, television or common sense, this past Sunday (yesterday) was Mother's Day. Woot! My hubby and kids really stepped it up this year. Not only did they cook me a breakfast complete with a very large Mimosa, but they cleaned the house as well. Hell to the yeah! I spent the rest of the day kicking it on my couch while I edited my WIP. All in all, a perfect day.
Then Monday rolled around. Lol. Monday's aren't necessarily bad, but darn it, there's just something so repetitive about them, it makes me want to groan. Oye, it's Monday. Again!
I feel the same sense of dread at times while editing my work. When I see I've used the same verb to describe something over and over and over again, I cringe and want to slap myself. How the hell did I not notice? What was I thinking? I mean, it's not like I haven't read through my manuscript fifty thousand times.
The answer is easy. We don't always see our own mistakes. This, my friends, is where having great critique partners comes in. Yes, I've learned a great deal over the past two years,and my writing is definitely better than it was before. But...and let me tell you it's a BIG 'Ol But, hahaha, there's still room for improvement. Sure, I've eradicated the use of the pesky "was", and dialog tags are a thing of the past. But just like Monday mornings, I've got a handful of bad habits that just keep coming around.
With my current WIP, I seem to like the word "took" quite a bit. It's passive, not descriptive and darn it, it keeps showing up everywhere I look, lol!
What about you? If you write, what are your bad habits? What trips you up every time? Feel free to weigh in, my non writer friends. I've got plenty of habits I fall into during my day to day life I'd like to overcome as well. Road rage tops the list, hahaha!
Have a great day, peeps!
4 comments:
Hmmm, I call it the can no longer see the forest through the trees syndrome.
A critique group is great. Very helpful.
I also find it useful to put something down for 4-6 weeks and then come back.
I love the word 'that'. I love forms of 'to be'. I'm getting better at catching myself earlier.
My worst habit is that I don't allow anyone else to read my work. I know that I need to use a critique group or get some beta readers to help me out, but I just can't bare to share. It is hard because I am just starting out and want to make sure that I choose the right people to share my work with.
I also have too many projects going on at one time. I need to pace myself a little better.
M Pax- "That" was a tough one for me to weed out. I still find myself going through my manuscripts and plucking it out. Bah!
Regina- I can't speak highly enough about finding a great critique partner. Do you belong to a writing group? RWA? Those are great places to foster relationships and find critique partners. It's so important to find someone you feel comfortable with and trust.
I tend to procrastinate a lot. I wait to do my schoolwork until the last minute. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it!
I also drive waaaayy too fast. I need to slow down.
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