Keeping On

One of my writing pet peeves is the over use of the word it. Such a small word but one that writers rely on, sometimes heavily. I'd never given "it" much thought until a writer I know said, "Never start a sentence with It." Much to my amazement, I realized she was right. By using a specific word instead of "it" makes the writing better, and easier for the reader to understand what you're trying to say. Don't believe me? Marshall Payne has an excellent post on this topic called "The Elusive Pronoun: It!" http://marshallpayne1.livejournal.com/113320.html

Sarah Zettel has an interesting post about staying the course when you're writing called "Don't Stop The Writing" http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2010/05/15/dont-stop-the-writing/ My husband is in the flagstone business and like he says, the cut stone is like money in the bank even when the buyers aren't buying. Someday, someone is going to need it and you'll have it. You're not wasting your time when you're working. Good advice, not just in the stone business but for both your short stories and novels.

I don't have a Twitter account but I will confess that I "eavesdrop" on the Twitterers on a regular basis. That's how I stumbled across Tom Russell's blog, Notes from the Borderland. He has some very interesting essays on his site. This one about writing http://russelltom.blogspot.com/2010/05/lean-on-pete.html is what took me to the site but I found a real jewel when I found this post http://russelltom.blogspot.com/2010/02/knife-throwers-sonata.html which ties in perfectly with Ms. Zettel's post.

Keep on keeping on, my writer friends!