Daily Archives: July 16, 2011

e-maginings: That Is My Favorite Word

Deception coming from Amber Allure   Aug. 2011 Linda McLaughlin aka Lyndi Lamont

Every writer has a favorite word. You know, the one that creeps into your writing, over and over again, when you’re not paying attention.

In my case, the word is “that”. Every time I have to submit a manuscript I try to remember to do a global search for the word “that” and cut as many as possible. If I don’t, my editor will point out how much I’ve overused the word. You’d think “that” would be a fairly invisible word, like “the” but it isn’t. Not quite anyway, another word I have to watch out for, especially when I’m writing a historical with British characters.

For some writers, the favorite word is the generally useless “very”. Even if it’s not your favorite word, it’s a good one to search out and eliminate wherever possible.

My former writing partner, Anne Farrell, and I are revising our old Precious Gem romance for self-publishing as an e-book. It has been thirteen years since it was released, way back in the last century. So we’re updating the manuscript and looking to revise and tighten it as we go, including cutting out as many that’s as possible.

So what’s your favorite word?

Linda Mac