Welp, it’s the new year and I’m just now getting to just my first blog, because it’s been just a whirlwind so far. I just wanted to say just a couple of things about just the start of the year, and just move on to the part where I just crank these out on my usual schedule. If I can just keep it up through the end of just the first quarter, I might just make it a regular habit.
Ow.
We’re starting the second month of the year, and I’ve already gotten sick of all the justifications I’m hearing. Most writers aren’t quite as bad as I worked to be here, but I still feel like I’m showering in guilt-spray as I read through posts reflecting our failing New Years’ Resolutions and writing goals.
Just stop.
Aside from the obvious improvement of trimming down unnecessary language and giving our readers less to work through, just primarily functions in writing (and speaking) as a kind of thought-pause or mushy place-holder–in the same vein as so and well. For the most part, we can delete it entirely without any loss of clarity: do it with my first paragraph, and we lose a whole sentence, with a few phrases that need minor adjustment.
Rather than apologizing for not holding ourselves up to a self-imagined standard, what if we said what we had to say? Straightforward, concise, and focused. If something more specific like simply or at-last is called for, avoiding a word with so many contextual connotations is still probably for the best–and helps us avoid the repetitious lure of easing our conscience on stage.
My first tip for 2024: just leave just behind.
Something Polished 