Top Texting Tips (for writers)

Here's a confession.  I'm a horrible texter.

Shoot, I don't even know if texter is a word.  Microsoft says no, but it is part of my vocabulary and I stink.  It might be that I use an old phone that's not really condusive to texting.  It might just be that it seems like too much work.   My kids' fingers fly and there are times that I wonder if texting is somehow the future of writing.

I hope not.

Still, I'd like to be better at it.  It seems like part of my problem stems from the fact that I simply don't know all the lingo.  I'm almost convinced that if I did, I could be great.  Or at least better. Maybe?

So, I visited net lingo, a site that bills itself as having the largest list of text and chat acronyms.

It was a lot of fun.

Okay. Fun might be a stretch, but I'm a nerd, so it was fun for me.  And, as I read through all the abbreviations, it occurred to me that a lot of them could work for writers.  We could use them as quickie notes to ourselves when revising our own work or for edits/critique of others. So, as a weird-ish public service announcement I've compiled a list, through the letter D.  Here goes:

! – I have a comment
411 – Information
511 – Too much information
AAK – Asleep At Keyboard
AB – Ass Backwards (This one is really useful to me. I tend to get the order of events wrong in first drafts)
ACK – Acknowledgments
ALOL – Actually Laughing Out Loud
AR – Action Required (another way of saying show don't tell?)
book – It means cool. (I don't know how to use this, but just thought this would make a lot of writers happy!)
BWTM – But Wait There's More (this one is good for when you leave out critical info)
CNP – Continued in Next Post
CRAFT – (It's probably not what you think, it has absolutely nothing to do with craft! *hint* CR = Can't Remember.  It's similar to CRAT and CRAWS)
d/c – disconnected
D+M – deep and meaningful
d00d – dude also dewd (this has nothing to do with writing!  It's just funny that none of these are shorter or easier than the original.)
DENIAL – Don't Even Notice I Am Lying (extremely clever!)
ditto – Ditto
DNC – Does Not Compute
DNPMPL – Damn Near Peed My Pants Laughing (a good thing if it's meant to be funny, otherwise…not so much)
DORD – Department of Redundancy Department
DUNA – Don't Use No Acronyms (you gotta love the grammar)
DRIB – Don't Read If Busy

And that's it for the first (and maybe last) installment of texting tips! If you like this, share or LAC* and if it seems like enough people like it, I'll CFP**

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