I’ve worked with Ron Hadfield, editor extraordinaire, off and on in various capacities since 2005. I was his student worker, then later his associate editor/right-hand writer, and now I’m one of his freelancers. I’ve spent a lot of time reading his edits and learning from him. And I have inherited lots of his editing tics/pet peeves (some of them passed down in turn from Dr. Charlie Marler, the patriarch of journalism at ACU). Here they are:
1. I hate the word “that,” and try to eliminate it when possible.
2. I hate “widows” – single words on a line – and will often re-jigger text to make them disappear.
3. I have a disdain for over-capitalized “alphabet soup” – e.g., Associate Professor of Important Things in the Department of This and That.
4. I prefer “smart” (curved) quotes over straight-line ones.
5. I proofread EVERYTHING. Sometimes twice.
I’ve also inherited a few other editing tics:
6. Use exclamation points sparingly. (from Al Haley, my creative writing teacher)
7. Use italics sparingly. (also from Al)
8. Never leave a naked “this” – always clarify it. (From a high school English teacher I rather despised – this lesson is the only useful thing I remember from her class.)
Anyone else? I know some of you are writers/fellow English majors/former journalism majors. Bring on your editing tics and pet peeves!
cakes, tea and dreams 
Ooooh I love this one. I’ve worked with some brilliant–and tough!–editors in my day, ones who write things like “vomit” or “You sound like an old man with a stick up his butt” or “We write with nouns and verbs here” next to my copy. It’s kind vicious, but I’ve learned so much and definitely inherited plenty of their tics.
Of course, now that I think of them it’s hard for me to come up with them. Off the top of my head:
1) Specifics are always more interesting (and funnier). Never say “girl scout cookies” when you can say “thin mints.”
2) Write with nouns and verbs. Sounds like a duh, but you’d be surprised. For example, “Angelina’s Oscar-winning turn in Girl, Interrupted”.. Sounds fancy and in-the-know. But “Angelina’s Oscar-winning meltdown in Girl, Interrupted” is much better.
3) Always cut “I think.” You’re writing it, obviously you think it. (I don’t always do that on my blog because I’m writing late and night and don’t always do my best editing.. but I should!!)
4) Just and really are almost always extraneous words.
5) The EIC at my first job had a list of words she hated and I’ve definitely come to feel the same way about: tresses, locks, giggle (basically girly words that made women out to be girls), any other word that is a fancy way to describe something else (don’t say eatery when you can say restaurant)… experience (as a verb)… I could keep going but will spare you. But let me tell you that when I worked there, there was an actual “verboten word list.”
I’ll stop there. Stephen King’s On Writing–the Toolbox section–is a great source of other fun and random rules…
Rachel, your editors sound waaay harsher than mine – but clearly they’ve made you a better writer. Thanks for sharing these tips! (And yes, King’s On Writing has some gems.)
Hi, Katie. Very nice post about those vital editing tics. The search feature in a word processing program is undoubtedly one of a writer’s best friends. Like you, my first search is for the nefarious “that.” Then I try to ferret out the weak verbs (“is,” “was,” “could,” etc.). I also hunt for “ly,” the distinguishing mark of those lazy adverbs. And, believe it or not, I find it really helpful to search for commas and examine them one by one. I’ve discovered that an awful lot of my commas should go away, because without them some sentences just flow better. The search for commas can also reveal a bad sentence, a poor construction that is really just a bunch of fragments crammed together.
I enjoy keeping up with your life through your blog, and Carol and I pray for you and Jeremiah daily, rooting for your success.
I’ll bet those Boston winters are kinda tough on a west-Texas girl, huh. We had some snow in Neosho this week (I wrote about it in my blog a couple of times), but I’ll bet we won’t get much sympathy from you hardy New Englanders. Take care. We love you.
Oh my goodness, Katie, now I’m really going to fret over my blog posts before I make I them public! Sorry. 😉
No, no, Julie! I don’t judge others’ writing NEARLY as harshly as I judge my own. I promise. (Unless, of course, I’m getting paid to do it.)
1. It was so great to meet you on Wednesday – glad you made the trek to Concord!
2. Have you changed the header in your blog this week (or has this last snow day put me over the edge?)?
3. The two question marks in the above bullet point are wrong, aren’t they?!
4. Have you read Jan Karon’s children’s picture book, MISS FANNIE’S HATS? It’s set at Easter, but is a wonderful lesson year-round.
5. I truly appreciate your list, above. You taught me about “smart” quotation marks, naked “this”es and extraneous “that”s.
6. I’m much looser in my blog posts than in business correspondence, but, yes, I proofread everything (sometimes twice).
7. Enjoy the weekend!
Dawn, it was great to meet you too! And yes, I have changed the header recently – you’re not imagining things!
I haven’t read Miss Fannie’s Hat, but oh how I love Jan Karon – so I’ll have to check it out. Enjoy your weekend too!
Sadly, I’m starting to make the very mistakes that make me crazy! I’ve seen some “their/there” and “you’re/your” mistakes pop up in my writing lately. I know, I know. A sign that I’m getting old and senile, perhaps??
PS
I just got a note on my blog regarding the Stylish Blogger Award. It’s like a fun game of internet-tag-blogger-awesomeness, and I wanted to share it with you. (I will NOT be offended if you don’t follow all the steps below or don’t participate, it just made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, so I wanted to share it with you and let you know how much I enjoy your writing!)
Here are the details:
Recently I got a surprise… I got a stylish blogger award. I am passing it on to you because I love your blog and want to get it read by even more people. See my recent post for the list with your blog on it!
So here are the rules for acceptance of the award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.
There is a button that goes with the award. Click on mine and copy the properties into your own blog.
Again, just wanted to let you know that I think you rock, and reading your blog always makes me feel happy, like I’m eating cake and drinking tea! 🙂
PPS
I just saw that I’m on your blog roll — I’m do honored! Wow! Don’t know what to say. 🙂
I don’t know about editing tics, but I do have a new favorite word to say: re-jiggered. I’m going to keep saying it. Re-jiggered, re-jiggered, re-jiggered.
Katie,
I’ve been steadily reading your blog for some time. It has been such a good way to keep up with you old friends. I don’t ususally comment, but I should send you a Pumkin Soup recipe that I have.
At any rate this comment is about peves and tics, and on that front I can certainly provide.
1. that that – As in “he said that that was not the way we do things” I’ve never seen a situation in which this is necessary.
2. random – Random does not mean, coincidental. It does not mean fateful. You did not see your long lost friend in a random coffee shop. Much more accurate words exist for the situations in which folks use the word random.
3. e.g. and i.e. – e.g. = Exempli Gratia = for example, i.e. = id est = that is, Thank you, Katie, for using e.g. correctly.
4. like – Do I need to comment further?
5. ellipses – This is not to be used for a long pause, it is meant to signify that the writer has ententionaly left text out. And, when used at the end of a sentence, it should be followed by ending punctuation. Or else….
Keep up the good work here.
Awesome post, Katie. (I also love the new header – makes me shiver a little, and appreciate our rain more.)
I totally preview my blog posts to avoid (if I can) the dreaded widow. (I will not preview this comment though.)
I agree with most of the points above, especially “I think…” Ack – I cut it out of nearly every college application essay I read.
Here are mine: that, just, and really (as mentioned above) and I’ll add very.
Also: literally. In a recent conversation a friend said to me, “he cut me, he literally cut my heart out,” about her ex. Um… no.
And: superlative + ever. As in, “that was the best mac & cheese EVER,” or, “that was the most boring movie EVER,” etc.
My personal bane: using apostrophes incorrectly. That makes my head explode. Literally. 😉
[…] taught me to go home at 5:00. The work, he said, will wait for you. 16. Ron, editor extraordinaire, taught me to edit. 17. Craig, my hippie Austin friend, taught me to love goat cheese. 18. My mom taught me to cook, […]
[…] teacher, advisor and mentor extraordinaire.) 13. “Proofread everything.” And other editing advice, from […]