I finished working through my edits yesterday, and had an epiphany. Well, okay, actually I read a comment from my editor, but it amounts to the same thing.
She said: 95% of the time the word "that" is unnecessary.
Half of you are probably snickering to yourselves ("She didn't know that?" -- incidentally that "that" is necessary). But I imagine there are many of you who will have your eyes opened like I did.
---> Joe decided
---> That is why she needed to leave today.
---> Camilla couldn't believe
I went through my contest entry for Camilla and did a search on "that". I ended up removing well over half of them.
I went to bed last night really feeling like I'd accomplished something. It seems a little silly, but I felt like "real" writer for the first time in a long time.
And all it took was "that".
Next up? "Try" and "Was, would, should and have/'ve".
I can't wait.
And now, just for fun:
| You Are Bert |
 Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others |
Oooh... I like this one much better:
| Star Wars Horoscope for Capricorn |
 You have a ton of ambition and inexhaustible desire to reach your goals. You are very loyal, going to great lengths to help someone out. You are a very social unit, winning the hearts of many with your cute personality. Star wars character you are most like: R2D2 |
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2 comments:
I sympathize with you on "that." I've worked hard to take them out, but recently I worked with an editor (very Germanic) who insisted on adding them in, "for clarity."
Love the quizzes... turns out, I'm Hans Solo!
I'm really bad about using "that". Even though I know it's wrong. *g*
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