1.
Did I eliminate “to be” (am, is,
are, was, were, has, have, seems, appears, exists, etc.) verbs and spice my writing with vivid verbs that
create a mood? 2.
Did I transform verbs to their
strongest form (chop off “ed” or “ing”) to keep in present tense and avoid
passive voice? 3.
Did I juggle secret ingredients
(semicolons, dashes, commas, parentheses, colons) to generate rhythm, build ethos,
and create a written voice? 4.
Can I find long, convoluted sentences and break them apart? Did I add in
sentences of varying length? Have I mixed
long, short, and medium length sentences within the paragraph, and did I begin
each sentence with a different pattern? 5.
Did I match the word choice and tone
to my audience by selecting words they might use or hear often? 6.
Did I build rapport by asking a
question, sharing my feelings, imagining the reader’s feelings, using
analogies, referencing shared experiences, and attaching the writing to the
reader’s concerns or interests? 7.
Can I locate every conjunction (and,
but, for, or, nor, so, yet) and determine
if punctuation is correct (commas, semi-colons,
or nothing needed)? 8.
Will I cut out any fat from
sentences (meaningless phrases or redundant expressions) by placing the noun right next to the verb
to help keep sentences concise? 9.
Did I utilize the rhetorical appeals?
Did I generate emotion (pathos), engage reasoning (logos) and build my trustworthiness
(ethos). 10.
Did I keep sentences on topic? If a
new topic emerges, did I begin a new paragraph with a clear transition sentence
for my reader?
Enjoy!
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What's your current writing project?