“To all the words I’ve used. To all the words I’ve had to do without. To all the words I’ve not used yet. You are loved.”
This blog was inspired by Willie Nelson’s song: To All the Girls I Loved Before. Click here for the video.
Words. I love words. I fell in love with words back in middle school, reading books like “The Hardy Boys” and “Nancy Drew”. In high school, Danielle Steele was the queen of words, and she still is today.
I’ve written poetry, short stories, novellas, and novels. In all those writings, words have been with me. They offer an emotional outlet for creative expression. I can’t get enough of words. But, sometimes I’ve been without.
For example:
“I’m speechless.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“There are no words to describe this.”
“I’m at a loss for words.”
Getting me now?
A very important step I’ve learned to use when I’m editing is identifying and removing meaningless and redundant words that don’t necessarily move the story. Over the years, I’ve kept a running list of words from my previous publications: Love’s Perfect Surrender, and Petrella, the Gillian Princess. This “word list” has helped me create more concise content especially since I’m working on my third novel, Make it Right; Make it Matter.
I’d like to share that with you. Click Redundant and Meaningless Words_List.
I am not one of those gifted writers that can pump out an imperfect, error-free draft and call it “final”. I am a writer who is learning to recognize her flaws, identify and use the correct words to capture the tone, emotion, and description whether it be in a scene, a chapter, and a paragraph.
“Anyone can write, but it takes a lot more to be a storyteller.”