Wow! March already. I've got a new contest running, so check the Contest Tab above. And check out Daily Cheap Reads. WHAT'S IN A NAME? was a February Best Seller. Do you have a copy yet? Only $2.99 (click the 'books' tab for details)Thanks to Rachel for her blogging tips. I'm guilty of rambling, even when I try to keep things short. In an effort to avoid posts that go on and on, I did manage to cut Monday's post "short" with a promise to continue.
When I closed on Monday, I pointed out that jumping from crutch word to crutch word doesn't mean you can simply hit delete. You have to check back and forth at least a few paragraphs. For example, in my seek and destroy for 'just' (which bugs me when I find there are 208 of them, because I swear, I try not to type them at all), there are places where it's used for emphasis, or another character repeats it, and if you delete it in one place, you lose the feel for the passage. Here's why you need to look a little further. The heroine has just discovered that the hero is more than a single dad who flies rescue missions for the local fire department. She's met up with some of his covert ops teammates while they're trying to keep her safe. This passage appears, and I debated cutting the "just":
"Do you … did you … do stuff like Dalton and Ryan? With guns? Or were you just the pilot?"But if I delete it, then the next sentence loses all meaning: He controlled the immediate reaction to 'just the pilot.'
L'Shannah Tovah to those who are observing the New Year. It's 5771.
We all have crutch words--those words that seem to crop up in a manuscript, edging out other, more useful or appropriate words. Some of them seem to be the equivalent of the spoken "um" merely vamping until thoughts coagulate. I have a list, but even after I cull my known offenders, others seem to be sucked into the manuscript--after all, nature abhors a vacuum. 
I've started trying to search and destroy these words as I go, checking every few chapters. Easier to cull 50 appearances of "just" now, than 500 of them later. But sometimes, there's a word that will be repeated simply because it IS the best word, and to start substituting makes things even more awkward. A door is a door. How often do people go through portals? If it starts to sound like your digging through a Thesaurus to avoid repeating a "limited function" word, you might be better off repeating it.
What I'm reading - Reason to Believe by Roxanne St. Claire in What You Can't See
What I'm working on: edits, edits, and more edits. Hoping to get to revisions.
I went through my editor's comments for Hidden Fire and then started re-reading the manuscript, thinking I could move through it quickly and get back to Unexpected Danger for my agent--after all, that's the manuscript that represents my next book, and it needs to be out there making the rounds. Hidden Fire and When Danger Calls are already in the system. As I was reading, I noticed a couple of my crutch words--the typewritten equivalents of 'um' as my fingers apparently needed to take a breath. After six manuscripts, I thought I was sensitized to them and avoided overuse. However, I decided to check. Thanks to Word's "highlight all items found in" feature, I plugged in my invisible friends. What a shock! Hundreds of unnecessary words. Even the one I think I've learned to avoid--"just"--showed up 130 times.
My 'starting' tally: Just --- 130
Sure -- 121
Only -- 95
Really -- 56
Very -- 38
So, five trips through the manuscript on culling missions before I could even begin to read for better flow. What is it about these words that seem to flow off the fingertips without passing through the brain first? And why are they so invisible? The fact that they didn't seem to bother my editor doesn't matter--they bother me. And of course, as I read, I see instances where a word is repeated in back to back sentences or paragraphs. I think some of this is a by-product of cutting and pasting, and not seeing enough on the screen -- that 'perfect' word seemed perfect because I'd used it already and now it's on the page again. Or I hear the hero say it, and the heroine must hear him too, because she uses the same word or phrase. Or gesture--I discovered an awful lot of hand squeezing in the manuscript. Had to fix that, too.
Then, taking a brief break after dinner, I checked my email. Of course, I find copy edits for When Danger Calls. This manuscript has already been through the first (and second) round edits, but it's the last chance to catch typos, so even though there aren't too many markups on the manuscript, I still have to read it again. And it's for a different publisher, so there are different considerations.
Maybe I'll be able to get back to Unexpected Danger in a week or so. And my agent has a totally different editing style from the other two. Plus, these will be revisions, not just edits. Means a lot more 'writing' effort. I admire anyone who can immerse themselves in one set of characters and plot points to work on one project, and then shift gears to tackle another.
I'm so glad I didn't get any of this until I was already at SleuthFest so I was free to enjoy sessions. I was going to recap some highlights, but that'll have to wait until my next post. Right now, it's back to Hidden Fire.
When I closed on Monday, I pointed out that jumping from crutch word to crutch word doesn't mean you can simply hit delete. You have to check back and forth at least a few paragraphs. 
