This is KAM Island and you're listening to the 146 episode of the word play podcast the more we learn both

about the craft in general and our own strength and weaknesses in particular for the

most part this allows us to identify and address some of those weaknesses as we're writing the first draft.

This of course makes very much easier edit.

But one of the things that seems almost impossible to completely address in the first draft is the annoying

habit of repeating words and phrases to the point of distraction.

You know what I mean?

We all have our own pet phrases.

Some of those pet phrases are universal to our writing,

no matter the project, and some crop up as unique problems

in each particular book.

Having just completed the first of my three cleanup edits

on Dreamlander before sending it on to my editor,

I now have a laundry list of overused words that I have to search for throughout my document, assess, delete, and replace.

I'll let you in on a little secret. This is not one of my favorite

parts of the writing process. In fact, in my opinion, it's one of the most unredeeming

parts. If only I could recognize and replace my overused words as I'm writing them.

But alas, no luck. All I can say is thank heavens for words find and replace feature.

Does your story need subplots?

The latest post in the video series on my blog analyzes the purpose and necessity of subplots.

Does your story have too many or not enough? You can watch the video on my

blog at wordplay dash k-m-yland, that's W-E-I-L-A-N-D dot blog spot.

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