28 Boring Words And What To Use Instead

Another writer and blogger named Jack Milgram shared this lovely infographic with me the other day. So I thought I’d share it with all of you because sharing is caring. I obviously like to think I’m a caring person. Then again, there’s probably a reason why I don’t have many friends in real life and turn to fictional characters to keep me company. On a more serious note, I hope this graphic helps!

22 Lessons I Learned About Writing

These are twenty-two things I have learned as a writer. Or I’m still learning. Or I hope to learn.

1. Start writing.
2. Believe in your story.
3. Take it one word at a time.
4. Hold onto your dreams.
5. Pursue your passion.
6. Set small goals.
7. Never settle for less than your best.
8. Make the right sacrifices.
9. Stay true to your vision.
10. Write for yourself.
11. Be your own critic.
12. Be your own cheerleader.
13. Don’t let the bad days win.
14. Talk to other writers.
15. Accept rejection.
16. Embrace failure.
17. Find a support system.
18. Ask for help when needed.
19. Exercise your brain and body.
20. Remember why you started.
21. Forgive yourself.
22. Finish your stories.

What’s a lesson you’ve learned?

Words I Should Delete From My Writing

A list of some words I use quite often and would do very well to cut out of my writing because then I’d actually improve my work, which doesn’t sound that bad to me.

• Some
• Quite
• Very
• Then
• Actually
• That

A list of words I use often and would do well to cut out of my writing because I’d improve my work, which doesn’t sound bad to me.

My Editing Tips

• Delete the word “that”. Because that is usually not necessary. That is rarely needed for clarity. If it is needed, by all means leave that in there. If not, get rid of that.
• Don’t use the same word or phrase all the time. Can you believe that I used to use “then” every other sentence? My elementary teacher even told my parents about this. Then I stopped using then completely. Afterwards, I tried to switch it up, which led to many awkward sentence constructions. And later on, I learned not to rely on any one word so much. Instead I attempted to use the best word in each scenario, not the same one in all of them.
• Discard adverbs. Like you discard trash. Quickly and efficiently.
• Do read out loud. Because nothing is more fun than reading your work out loud. Trust me on this one.

Six Word Story

You don’t know anything about me.

Thanking People Who Didn’t Believe In Me

Thank you for not believing in me. For doubting me.

Thanks for bringing me down, so I can build myself back up. 

Thank you for laughing behind my back or in front of my face. For stabbing me here, there, everywhere. 

Thanks for teaching me to let my work speak for itself. For making me realize that I don’t have to open my mouth to get the last word. 

Thank you to the people who I didn’t please. Who I will never please. Thanks for teaching me that I couldn’t please everyone. But I could please myself. And that’s what I’ll continue to do. 

Why You Didn’t Write 50,000 Words During Camp NaNoWriMo

• Because you procrastinated every day until the last.
• Because you chose to sleep instead of write.
• Because you didn’t meet your daily word count goal.
• Because you thought studying was more important.
• Because you rather watch random videos on YouTube.

The above reasons are very much directed at me.

Maybe next time I’ll write 50,000 words instead of 44,162.

Life Hacks To Meet Your Word Count

If you are struggling to meet your word count, try…

Spelling out contractions.

Works very well for academic writing. Not so much for dialogue in stories. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Spelling out numbers.

One thousand four hundred and sixty eight. Seven words right there. I can count.

Use five dollar words. 

This goes against everything you know? Well, that’s life for you.

Use five cent words.

Every word is another word. But remember, not all words are equal.

Open a thesaurus.

Then proceed to replace one word with two, three, ten even.

Keep the thesaurus open.

See how many synonyms you can string together in a sentence.

Do not hyphenate.

Rebel. Refuse. Resist.

Do not combine words.

Rain bow. Snow man. Sun shine.

Forget you read any of this. Forget I even wrote it. Forget about my blog.