Perhaps no matter when we start, or what we do, we trail behind the times. There’s something beyond our grasp which is the place… the place where things are happening. If we could knock in the right way, tap tap tap, we’d be in, and it would be easy.

In my search for places to submit, I came across Medium. I think I’m not so young any more, because just trying to work out how to use it is a challenge. It’s made by one of the same people who made Twitter (which, though I fitter with, I have never quite got the spirit of).

So, this post is to say that I’ve just published something on Medium… and it was kind of by accident, and it isn’t a story I really have any faith in. But Medium states that it only takes 4 minutes to read, so here is Dr Lotty Lovelock.

Towards the end of last year, as I was making my way through some blogs that had been made to help writers make their writing better, I made a discovery. Apparently, the verb ‘make’ makes more appearances than it should. This made me think. I made some attempts to remove my makes, and I must say,  it made a difference. Phrases with make do make the phrase less impactful.  Consider:

• it made a difference –> it changed things
• I made it –> I succeeded
• it made me think –> it forced me to think
• she made her way to town –> she went to town

Right now, I’m making some changes to (editing) the first part of a story I (made) wrote, and find myself searching for exciting equivalents to my makes. I thought I’d share a few.

1. ‘soulful eyes that made him a popular lover and leader’ –> ‘soulful eyes that endeared him as lover and leader’ (struggling with this was what made me think to write a blog… not sure I’ve hit on the best option, or made the right choice)
2. ‘and he’d done his best to live up to the promises his eyes made’ –> ‘…his eyes delivered’ (in the same damned sentence!!!)

Now, I can definitively state that I’d changed a few makes before I decided to write this (and I can’t be bothered to go back and find them), but I’ve just reached the end of the piece without finding another, so I guess my conscious tweaking over the last couple of months has reached my subconscious. Great for me, not so great for this blog post though!

To punctuate that failure with another, I thought I’d share a few links where others discuss removing ‘make’, but have completely failed to find any. It seems removing makes isn’t as hot a style topic as I’d thought. However, removing ‘be’ verbs has many hits, so for the sake of sharing, and to give me something to click on and read tomorrow, here’s one of those links.