I used to think my only word addiction was to the word wonky. I love saying that word...and I don’t even think it’s an actual word! But now I realize I have many more word addictions, where I use the same words over and over, hoping for a different result each time. But what really happens is they just end up getting slashed by my wonderful critique partners because I never needed those words to begin with. So now I take it one page at a time, accept the words that I cannot change, have the courage to change the words I can, and hope Jay and Eve have the wisdom to know the difference.
Here is a small list of the words I am seriously addicted to:
- Suddenly
- Um
- Okay
- Even
- Just (...but I just love that word!)
Speaking of addictions and things I can’t do well, reading through Jay and Eve’s edits also showed me that I have a serious dysfunctional relationship with the italics function…and…the…ellipses function.
But I looooove them. Italics and ellipses are just so…what’s the word???
Wonky!
- Robin
9 comments:
Well, this was great fun to read 'cuz I NEVER use "wonky" or "suddenly or some of your other addictions. So if you don't mind, I'll just borrow some of yours :-)
Maybe we can all list our overused words and trade! Feel free to use any of the following:
cool
good night!
holy mackeral!
Apparently
Evidently
smiled
Seriously - I wish I could insert wonky into something! Or maybe "wobbly." Ooo!!! or Zumba :-) yeah....zumba.
Have you tried Wordle yet? You paste your text into it, and it generates a word cloud that shows how frequently you use certain words -- apparently, other than character names, mine are "quite" "bit" "just" "suddenly" and "then". It's kind of cool though...and also sort of pretty.
wordle.net
Great post, Robin! And Katie! Dang, girl! That is dope! Speaking of....
Yeah, Dope, Okay, and seriously. Yeah, seriously. I overuse them all.
And don't even get me started on those darn elipses...
Loved this post - I have the same reaction when I get edits back from my critique group. My addiction words are freakish, little, and okay. Plus I just can't get enough of that old workhorse the semicolin. I need to give it a rest and only use it for winking. ;)
Yes, Robin. You do have addictions to the.....dot things...but so...do...I. Also love parentheses (don't know why, always have) and semi-colons (not sure where that came from; I'm not even sure how to use them correctly!)
Trust me, folks, when The Happiness Project hits the shelves, no one will care about the overuse of dot things or "suddenly" or anything else...it's THAT good; in fact, I can actually see it being used in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades as a teaching tool, in addition to being a kick-ass cool wonky (did I use that word correctly?) trade book!
Eve
Oh! And, Katie...Florida was awesome! Just got home. In fact, my sister and I were signed up to go to her Zumba class last week!
Um, but we ended up drinking beers at the pool instead.
Eve
Glad you made it home from Florida, Eve! Can't wait to hear about your trip.
I love that one of Christy's word addictions is "freakish." That's awesome!
And I like to use the word "wonky" in the context of explaining something that is weird, or off-balance, or peculiar, or not making sense. Like, for example, a politician might make a speech that is wonky. Veeery wonky. (Okay, I think I'll stop right there.)
;-)
Robin
Hahah, I've recently become attached to the word wonky. It hasn't made it into one of my manuscripts yet, though. And I also use a lot of ellipses. They were one of those things I went through and pared down on my last revision.
Great post!
Liz
All I have to say is my favorite word is cattywumpus.
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