Real Words

This is a guest post by Alexis Bonari. Learn more about her by checking out the bio at the bottom of the post.

The online community moves fast. In order to capture the fickle attention spans of mouse-clicking generations, we online freelance writers must be on top of trends across the board. No one outside of niche blogs wants to read anything by a stilted writer who sounds like she’s from 2010.

Trendy writers come up with and reuse popular words or phrases like foodie, quick fix, and green. Everyone does it—and that’s fine—but I’m going to let my inner mom come out for a second to illustrate a point: If everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you?

Admittedly, inserting the word vacay isn’t going to bring down your writing career (probably). This might be a good time, however, to remember a few basic do’s and don’ts of freelance writing.

Use latecomers sparingly

The English language morphs to suit modern purposes. Although Shakespeare’s work wasn’t looked upon kindly by the contemporary upper classes, the now-acclaimed playwright added 1,700 words to the English language, including bedroom, dishearten, and majestic. Shakespeare’s experience demonstrates that some trends catch on for a reason.

If you know what you’re doing and the audience you’re writing for, go ahead and use gorgie or fab. If, however, you’re using trendy words simply because you’ve seen them before and you haven’t checked up its etymology, you may want to pass. Many media-generated words are redundant and classless, but because no one bothers to say so, they catch on. More importantly, they can suck the creativity from your own key-stroking fingers. Stop mimicking the cool kids and use your own words.

Don’t be afraid to pick up a dictionary

Since I often write about eco-friendly (there it is again) topics and skincare, I come across this one frequently: skincare regime orregiment.

Regime, regimen, and regiment have for some reason been lumped into one vague but militaristic definition. Many writers think the three words are interchangeable.

Typos and misunderstandings may be to blame, but let’s make it clear: a regime is a form of government, a regimen is a procedure or system, and a regiment is a military unit of ground troops.

Avoid redundancy

Are you going to send a few manuscripts out later this week? What are your future plans? Are you in the process of deciding whether or not to go to the party this weekend?

Of course you’re sending the assignments later this week. Your sentence is already referring to the future (as in, you’re going to send the manuscripts), so it has to be later. Future plans? A plan is already for the future. And why not nix the excess baggage and simply say, “Are you deciding whether to go to the party this weekend?”

If you look at good poetry, you’ll see that much is conveyed in as few words as possible. That’s a good principle in freelance writing, too, especially if you’re constricted by a word or letter count.

Take, for example, the word reiterate, which I heard on PBS the other day. Sticklers for the English language know that iterate suits the purpose just fine, sans two letters. Because we hear these words and phrases all the time, however, they’re surprisingly difficult to expunge from our vernacular.

Bio: Alexis Bonari is currently a resident blogger at College Scholarships, where recently she’s been researching art scholarships as well as business scholarships. Whenever this WAHM gets some free time she enjoys doing yoga, cooking with the freshest organic in-season fare, and practicing the art of coupon clipping.