Amazed and amazing!
I’m getting closer and closer to the publication of my memoir, Angels & Earthworms. I’ve been busy doing line-by-line editing of my print proof, which is the first physical copy of my book.
Most mistakes I’ve found have been small: missing commas, semi-colons, and the like, occasionally an awkward turn of phrase, but as I went through, I realized I had used the words amazing and just over and over.
In fact, when I did a search inside the manuscript, I had to laugh. I had used the word amazing over fifty times! On one page, amazing turned up three times! Now, if you have to use an adjective over and over, amazing is at least a very positive one to be fixated on, but even so, it can get monotonous. So, using the impressive online thesaurus, WordHippo, I started trading out amazing, depending on the context, for:
awesome, extraordinary, magnificent, wonderful, astounding, inspiring, remarkable, striking, thought-provoking, mind-blowing, stunning, terrific, brilliant, splendid, sensational, marvelous, phenomenal, eye-opening, surprising, terrific, splendid, enthralling, riveting, vibrant, tremendous, bountiful, profound, mind-boggling, dazzling…
It has felt really healing to hang out with so many uplifting adjectives, especially with all the bad news these days that can completely pull us into darkness and despair.
I had also used the word just over 109 times, which took quite a bit of ingenuity to fix, since it can have many different meanings.
If you’d like to learn more about my memoir, and about Bookie, my cartoon muse, and be eligible for a free advance readers copy, please visit https://BooklingPress.com
