I Can Kill You With My Brain

I enjoy writing.  I like finding new and interesting ways to convey and phrase things.  I like leading the reader down one path only to have a little twist in the story at the end.  I especially enjoy having a vague, seemingly unrelated title that makes sense only after the reader takes in the final sentence.  I’ve been blogging now for over five years and I think that my writing skills have improved quite a lot over that span of time.  Yet, there are still a few areas where I want to improve.  I have some writing crutches that I always use, even though I know they aren’t exactly correct or preferred.  There are two of them specifically that really bother me.

Just:  I use the word ‘just’ way too often.  Most of the time I use it correctly, but I use it where it’s not necessary.  In fact, I had to fight myself not to use it in that last sentence.  Usually, I don’t need the added emphasis that the word provides.  It’s just filler; a tick in my writing style.  I have been working hard to limit it’s use and save the word for when it’s actually providing some real benefit to the sentence it’s in.

Got:  I have destroyed this word over the years.  I use it far too often and unlike “just”, I generally use “got” incorrectly.  There is almost always a better, more preferred word that could be used.  While “got” may be accepted in many of these cases, it is quite often grammatically wrong.  One of the situations where I catch myself utterly failing with “got” is when it’s just redundancies.  Take this sentence: “I’ve got to see that!”  Expanding the contraction changes the sentence to: “I have got to see that!”  The word “got” is just not needed here.  “I have to see that!” is all that’s required for it to be a clean sentence that makes it’s point.

I realize now that this was likely a very boring entry.  Who wants to read about grammar?  I’m sure that some people might want to, but those people probably aren’t coming to this blog to get their grammar fix.  Maybe this particular entry is a little self-serving.  By writing about these two things I’m working on, I’ve forced myself to think about them more.  Also, it allows you, dear reader, to know what I’m trying to do and call me out on my missteps in the comments when I make these “mistakes” in future blog entries.  Consider that your free pass to tell me that I’m wrong.  But please, you got to promise to just do it when I use “got” and “just”.