A Work in Progress

Gahhhhh! That's me yelling at my Kindle because I'm re-reading an overused word in a New York Times best-selling book by a best-selling author. Gahhhhh! That's me yelling again  because said writer should know better ... even if the rules don't apply to him because he's uber famous and can do what he wants. But, I -- the reader -- noticed! I saw the repeated words. And I'm annoyed. Readers read to get away; to dive into the book and enjoy; to escape-- not to question the author's choice of words. Okay, let me open up here. The book is John Grisham's latest thriller, The Rooster Bar.   Per usual, it's a great read, is super easy to get into, and has awesome, three-dimensional characters (even though you could swap characters from book to book and it would work seamlessly). But, the word he over used is: evidently. This word can be perfect  to use. Say, once every other chapter, if  needed. But it's one of those adverbs that shoul

My husband and I have this running joke that if we played a drinking game for the first -- and only the first-- five minutes of any news segment, anywhere in America, we'd be under the table in two. Why? Because this drinking game is based on the repeated use of the word "impact." It's okay if you can hate me now. Because after this post, you will notice this word EVERYWHERE and how overused it is. I get it. The word is impactful. It makes a point. Pulls a punch. But ... it's beyond this, my friends. It's overwhelmingly beyond this now. I also understand that each decade has it's colloquial and trendy words. Totally understand that. I can dig that, yo. But, there's an all-out assault on this word. And most of the time, it's used incorrectly. Do you know what the word impact means? Per Merriam-Webster, it means 1.   a.: to fix firmly by or as if my packing or wedging   b.: to press together 2.   a.: to have a direct effect or i