A real eye-opener

Sometimes it's all about asking the questions. If you don't ask, you never know (to quote Wal Footrot).

I received a reply from Sarah Dobbs this morning and I'm pleased to say it was nigh on revelatory. Apparently the good folks at Chippewa have a vendetta against 'was' in the context of "...it was like a big point in a tennis match and she was choking every time." They would prefer "...it was like a big point in a tennis match and she choked every time" and by God, I have to agree with them. While 'she was' is not passive voice in the strictest sense, it does break the White/Strunk rule of 'Omit needless words', which can be just as bad.

When my fourth draft of Ghost Kiss is done, I'm going to use the find/replace tool on my word processor to comb through my manuscript and eliminate every unnecessary 'she was' I can find. I'm also going to do the same for all my other novels and stories.