Word Hang-Ups

Every author has a hang up with a word or phrase. The good author will recognize this themselves or after someone points it out to them. The good author will work hard to eliminate that hang up and move forward, becoming a better writer.

I once had a student who was an exceptional writer. But she was hung up on the preposition "among" and used it as often as she could. I pointed this out to her and suggested that she perform a "search and find" for that word and then re-write each sentence that contained "among." She did and later told me that not only had her writing improved, but her grades for written papers were higher!

I just finished editing a double-novel (twice as long as a normal novel) and the author had to hang ups - one a word hang up and the other a mechanics hang up. The word she used time after time was "still." Every paragraph had the word, no kidding. The mechanics hang up was that instead of using the word "until," she used "till" - spelled wrong, anyway, but also spoken English and not written English. And this word is a word hang up itself. I suggested she fix them, but have not heard back from her.

Find your hang ups and correct them. Move from being a good writer to being a great writer.