Luckily, writing is a skill not a talent, which means authors can impove as long as they practice. Just for reference, a talent is defined as an innate, natural ability one is born with. Think swimmer Michael Phelps, with his massive feet and incredible wingspan. I mean the guy was born to be a swimmer. A skill, meanwhile is something we acquire which develops over time through education, dedication, and practice. Note that Phelps didn’t just have immense physical talents, he had the drive to spend tens of thousands of hours in the pool over his career, honing his abilities on the road to those 28 Olympic medals.

Even though I was not a good student when I was young—I’m a low-level dyslexic and hated to read—I have spent much of my life writing as both a reporter and an author. I only mention this because I believe that if I can be a competent writer, lots of other people can too.

There are some things you can do right now to improve your writing. Little hacks that make your prose more professional. One is to avoid the repetition of words. There are about 170,000 words currently in use in the English language. Americans typically use only about 5,000 when speaking and 10,000 when they write. While that seems like a lot, it’s not. Using the same words over and over is a bore, and we lose the opportunity to add richness to our writing when we don’t branch out. Now don’t go crazy and use words that seem pretentious or grandiose. Also try to avoid overused words like good, bad, old, beautiful, happy, sad. Learn to love your thesaurus app and check out options if you find yourself repeating the same words in a paragraph.

Because writers love their words, they are often tempted to use too many. As a former journalist, I had to learn to utilize my words sparingly, since I was often constrained by time limits or word count. That often meant eliminating any words that were unnecessary. For example. Here’s how I initially wrote a previous paragraph. I deleted the underlined sentence because it added nothing essential to the story: Even though I was not a good student when I was young—I’m a low-level dyslexic and hated to read—I have spent much of my life writing as both a reporter and an author. That I ended up making a living from words surprised some who knew me back then. I only mention this because I believe that if I can be a competent writer, lots of other people can too. (I will point out here that in this paragraph I overused the word “word”. Sometimes, there’s just no way around it.)

Good writers take their readers along with them right into the story. The best way to do that is to give readers the opportunity to smell, taste, touch, and hear the story. Warm cotton sheets. Birds chirping in the trees. Smells of toast and bacon. That first sip of coffee. That’s called painting a picture for your audience, one that touches their senses. Note, however, that writers sometimes add too much description to a scene, and this often bogs the story down. There’s a fine line between not enough description and too much.

Another way to make your writing more dramatic is to use fewer pronouns. Try of avoid he, she, his, hers, it, we, they, them and all the other pronouns since they add little in the way of description. Now this doesn’t mean you can never use pronouns, just think before you do and consider if there’s an alternative. Using proper nouns or linking two sentences together are good ways to eliminate pronouns.

Like anything else improving your writing involves practice, practice, practice. So go ahead and give it a shot.

Your Forgotten Sons

Inspired by a true story

Anne Montgomery

Bud Richardville is inducted into the Army as the United States prepares for the invasion of Europe in 1943. A chance comment has Bud assigned to a Graves Registration Company, where his unit is tasked with locating, identifying, and burying the dead. Bud ships out, leaving behind his new wife, Lorraine, a mysterious woman who has stolen his heart but whose secretive nature and shadowy past leave many unanswered questions. When Bud and his men hit the beach at Normandy, they are immediately thrust into the horrors of what working in a graves unit entails. Bud is beaten down by the gruesome demands of his job and losses in his personal life, but then he meets Eva, an optimistic soul who despite the war can see a positive future. Will Eva’s love be enough to save him?

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