That Word

I know I've lamented here before about "that" word.  You know...the four letter word T-H-A-T.

It's insidious.

It's elusive.

It weakens your prose -- oh no!


So, once again, I spent the day going through my current WIP under the "find" option and removing 90% of the "that"'s.

She worried that he wouldn't come  becomes She worried he wouldn't come

She knew that he would be late becomes She knew he would be late

See? Tighter...cleaner...better.

I don't even realize I'm using it like I do until I go back and spend an afternoon cleaning up the mess

Tell Me:  Do you have an issue with THAT word too?