Thursday, May 10, 2012

Redundancies - Part II

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster. ~Isaac Asimov

Welcome to Writers’ Corner. I’ve had a busy week writing, critiquing, editing, and in my non-writing job, medical transcription.

What about you?

I want to take a moment to address my email subscribers since I received a question this week pertaining to email. To access this blog from the email, click on the title of the post. You’ll be directed to the blog where you can leave comments. This is especially important on prayer Wednesdays when we receive prayer requests and pray for others. Also, if you can’t access the YouTube video on the prayer post through email, go to the blog. Thanks!

In the body of many posts, I embed website links of referenced articles. Click on these (highlighted like my title) to be redirected to the article.

If anyone else has questions regarding the technical aspects of my blog, let me know, and I’ll try to answer them.

One of my pet peeves is also something I’m guilty of—writing with redundancies. I’ve blogged on this subject before, but I see redundant word combinations often, even in published writing. So, I decided to touch on the subject again. Read through these examples, then see if you can identify others in your writing. Tighten your manuscript by deleting them.

absolutely essential
bald-headed
armed gunman
could possibly
drop down
sit down
stand up
end result
hurry up
joint collaboration
over exaggerate
still remains
visible to the eye
unexpected surprise
temper tantrum

Most writers overuse favorite phrases along with redundancies. Once you identify your overused word/phrase, simply do a “search” for it on your computer (the F5 function key in MS Word). Either replace the word with a synonym or delete it. Many times, the word isn’t needed when looking at the sentence context. As a novice writer, I discovered Southernisms creeping into my writing. Searching for words like “just” helped me to realize “just” how much I used them. J

The winner of the free critique from last week’s post is TC Avey. She describes her WIP as an adult thriller (I think that's the word I have decided upon). It is pre-apocalyptic of the Left Behind Series and has the big brother tone of an Ayn Rand novel.”

Sounds exciting, TC! My contact info is at the top of this blog.

Take a moment to leave a response to the following prompt.  I look forward to reading everyone's comments.

I write because…

13 comments:

  1. AWESOME! Can't believe I won!

    Going through your list I had to laugh at a few because I hadn't really thought of them before (bald headed). Why would anyone needed to clarify it was the head that was bald? But I've read it plenty of times. Thanks for this list- I'm going to print it off and hang it on the wall so I won't be guilty (hopefully).

    I write because I would drive my spouse crazy if I didn't!

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    1. When you look at redundancies by themselves, it's difficult to imagine anybody writing them, but I see them all the time. Perhaps it's because we talk this way to some extent. Good response to the prompt! I can relate.

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  2. Thanks for this list. I have identified some of my pet redundancies and will work at eliminating them.

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    1. You're welcome, Joanne. I'm glad the list was helpful. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing from you again!

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  3. Wow! Your list made me widen my eyes! These are used often, too often! Patsy from
    HeARTworks

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  4. Excellent list. I used to think that the years of editing student papers opened my eyes to my own redundancies. Not quite. Thanks for the reminder.

    And:
    I write because the words act as eyes, ears, heart, and prayers. Life pales and starves without them.

    Visiting from Beholding Glory.

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    1. I'm glad you found the list informative. I love your reason for writing! Great description! Hope to hear from you again.

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  5. Thanks for sharing this great list of redundancies. I find myself automatically looking for these when I do my editing..

    I write because I want to encourage and give hope to others...often I am the one who needs it most.

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    1. You're welcome, Glenda. That's a great reason to write and the same reason I write. Even though I encourage others, I receive much encouragement from my readers. Thanks for stopping by and joining the discussion.

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  6. your tips are fabulous!! thank you.
    happy Mothers day!

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    1. You're welcome! So glad you stopped by and found the post helpful. Happy Mother's Day to you, too.

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