Today's Writing Tip Is about Redundancy

I'm a big fan of the software program Grammarly, and it has taught me a great deal about redundancy.

As writers, we tend to lose objectivity in our own work. The reason why is because we are too close to the material. It's hard for us to envision the end result and what a cleaner version of our writing could look like.

Okay, now I'm going to rewrite that paragraph above, which is full of redundancy. What's wrong with it?

1.       We don't need the reflexive pronoun "own."

2.       We don't need to say the reason why.

3.       We don't need to say end results. That's like saying close proximity — same thing.

Here's a clean version:

As writers, we tend to lose objectivity in our work. That's because we are too close to the material. It's hard for us to envision the results and what a cleaner version of our writing could look like.

Streamline, people! Get it down in your first draft, but when you revise, look for words you can chop out.

Happy writing.

Sigrid