Word Peeves: SPILL!

HI GUYS. AS I WAS pondering what to write, my Inbox alerted me to the latest post by HuffPost contributor, Zoe Triska. Titled, "The Phrase That Makes You Sound Like A Loser," it is a sure bet and will likely get scads of hits and comments. 

Ms. Triska is all about words and pop culture. Fun stuff, but relevant stuff too. And the feedback she receives is often more informative than the post itself. 

We can all relate to the overuse of the words, "like," or "WHATev-ver," (and a roll of the eyes and a stomp of the foot).  How about the terms, "Just sayin'" or "I'm SO over him/it"? 

Well there is balance in everything, right? We should use care when judging others over their lexical misuse and lighten up our Grammar Nazi tendencies. We need to see the context behind the message and think back to the days when we were young and naive and uneducated. (I still am on many things.) 

But we'll save the high road for later, okay? Right now, I'm wondering, what are your Communication Peeves? Overused words? Erroneous idioms? Superfluous sentences?  Please share. Let's have some fun. 

~*~ I'll start ~*~

• Revert back: is oh so redundant.
• Self-pity is a loathsome term. It's a symptom of something deeper. Always!
• Hearing, "No problem" when you thank someone. How about "you're welcome" or "glad to help"? 
• "A group of individuals" No kidding, I saw this in writing once. (It still makes me laugh.) 
• "Besides" and "Anyways" these just crack me up. Why add that 's' on the end? It ain't proper. 
• "You know" or "I don't know" used as filler when speaking. I'm guilty of this. Silence would be better.
• "The thing is, is..." is more humorous reduncancy. 
• "Alright." This is not proper. It's all right--two words! But already is okay. :) 
• Rather than saying "goodbye" someone says, "Have a good one." A good what? I got over that after I grew up.  

So, now it's your turn. Do tell. 

Hmm...Read or Sleep?

A MAJOR THANK YOU to those of you who left your sweet encouraging comments on my last post. They mean the world to me. I was better after a decent night's sleep. It's no surprise that when I let myself get rundown, my mental attitude suffers. 

Do you ever get one of those books in your head and you're so wanting to finish it before it needs to be returned to the library but you've got a gazillion other things going on and finding time to sit and read is about as futile as keeping pounds off at Christmas? 

Bingo. That's me. For the past three weeks or so, I've been reading SHOT IN THE HEART by Mikal Gilmore, younger brother of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. Books like this interest me because understanding what drives a person to commit violence doesn't just happen in a single moment of lost clarity. It takes years to make a murderer as this book so aptly and tragically demonstrates. 

Much of the story takes place in Portland, Oregon where I spent my teen and young adult years. This familiarity makes the reading even more compelling. 

I'll get through all 403 pages but I might have to forego sleep to do it. Dang. 

So what book are you losing sleep over? 

When Discouragement Reigns Supreme

ONE THING I'VE learned through the years is that when I'm tired, I'm more likely to be discouraged. Can anyone relate? 

Today is a stellar day for both. The tired part is my own fault. Last night I stayed up too late working on a project. When the alarm rang this morning, I ignored it for as long as possible which was about five whole minutes. Hearing myself snore brought reality back to front and center. 

It's mid-afternoon now and I'm at work, sitting at my desk, wondering why this company doesn't have a sofa. I need a nap. Or at least a couple of toothpicks to keep my eyelids open.

Those of you who are regular readers (bless you, sweet souls!) know I've been attempting to cross the threshold from writer to author for some time now. At this point I'm pretty sure I could take the Guinness for Longest-Wannabe. Last month I thought I had found a publisher. I spoke with her on the phone. She said she believed in my work. I wanted to fall down and worship her. It all looked very promising and I was cautiously optimistic. 

Then over the course of the following three weeks, the duration between emails grew to an uncomfortable level. The final email, although cordial was not the news I was hoping for.    

I'm back to querying. I'm back to revising. I'm back to serious self-pep-talk. I'll be going to bed early tonight.

How about you? Do you have a favorite discouragement-buster you'd like to share?