Blah. Don't Let Your Writing Become This!

I thought I was finished editing my latest book. That was, until I remembered my writing mentor's advice: Don't repeat words and phrases and don't write BLAH. (Okay, he didn't say "blah," but that's the easiest way I can remember it!)

So, I read my draft with fresh eyes. What did I see? Something like this: "She turned around and looked up at him with questioning eyes. Then she turned and walked away." Talk about your BLAH! I used "turn" twice in the same paragraph. Did she swivel, rotate, circle? Did she look up, or did she glance, gaze, or stare? Did she walk away, or did she stomp, trudge, saunter, or wander? See what I mean?

Then I noticed everyone rubbed their temples. Didn't anyone have pain anywhere else?

Everyone chuckled. Didn't anyone snicker, chortle, guffaw?

Everyone cleared their throats. Surely, there are other nervous habits, say, biting one's fingernails, cracking one's knuckles, twirling one's hair (if you're a girl).

You probably understand it now. Learn from my mistakes, folks. Find the exact word. Mix it up. Add a little spice to your prose. Go ahead, you can do it! (accomplish, achieve, etc.....)

Today's entry falls under the "Live" category of writelearnlive. I received word on Sunday that my Uncle Bill passed away that morning. He was only 67, younger than his brother, my dad. Uncle Bill always seemed to be ready to laugh. He and my dad were a lot alike that way. I remember once my Aunt Marilyn had gotten in several fender benders, so my Uncle Bill tied two car tires to the ends of a long rope. He put the rope over the top of Aunt Marilyn's car so the tires rested on her car doors. He said it was one sure way to protect the car. . . .

One other time, he and I were visiting my parents in Cleveland. My parents bowled in a league, so Uncle Bill and I went to watch them. Afterward, Mom and Dad said to meet them in the bar. Well, we walked into the bar, and it was karaoke night. The singers were AWFUL. Uncle Bill turned to me, grimaced, and said, "Makes me wish I hadn't given up drinking."

Every year for 20 or more years, he and my dad took a trip to Minnesota and went hunting. In 1985, to make sure my dad could attend, I had to plan my wedding around their hunting trip. No joke! But the memory still makes me smile.

When someone we love dies, we remember funny stories and the qualities that made him or her special to us. Someday we'll face our own deaths. We may wonder what others will say about us at that time. We hope we've done enough or said enough in our lifetimes so others will remember us fondly.

While that's a nice goal, there's more at stake. I'm not sure what you may believe, but if you're reading this, you know I'm a Christian. When we die, we enter either heaven or hell. There's no in-between, no second chance. Heaven or hell. No matter what we've done, good or bad, it has no bearing on where we go after death. In fact, whatever good we do in this life will not "earn" us a place in heaven.

Since we can never be "good enough," it can come as a sobering and even terrifying thought to realize we cannot earn heaven on our own. We deserve the punishment of hell. But, Jesus loved us so much that He died in our place. We need Jesus, or we'll never get there.

I'm not sure where Uncle Bill stood. I'm not sure where you stand. But, please, trust that God loves you. Believe it. Take it in. Wrap yourself in it.l No matter what you've done or not done in this life, no matter what awful things lie in your past-- God loves you. He wants you to come to Him and ask Him to be your Savior. It's the only way to get to heaven.

The Benefits of Waiting on Your Writing

It's perfect. No, it's not. It's perfect. No, it's not. Sounds like I'm plucking petals off a daisy, but what I'm really doing is moving from draft to draft of my novel. I finished the last draft on September 16th. Yesterday, October 26th, I started the next draft.

I thought my last draft was pretty good. Then I started on the current draft. I've read if you're writing a magazine article, you should put it aside for a week and then come back to it and read it again with "fresh eyes." Why this is true, I don't know, but it IS true. I set that novel aside for a month, and I'm amazed at what I see today. A well-to-do character turns off the engine and sits in her car for 20 minutes . . . on a hot day in June? Did I really have the same character touch another character's shoulder three times in the same chapter? Ugh.

So, if you're writing something, anything, then please do this favor for yourself: don't mail or e-mail it to an editor right away. Set the piece aside for at least a week and then re-read it. If you've written a novel, set it aside for at least two weeks, preferably a month. No matter how perfect you think it is, you'll be astonished what you'll find.

Edit on, fellow writers!