Years ago, I pitched my memoir to an agent at a famous writers’ retreat. Big time agents basically trawled the place looking for up and coming talent, which was one of the reasons I was there.

There I sat, doing my level best to describe my work in progress, explaining that my story could benefit ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE, professing that I’d written it so “others wouldn’t feel so alone”…

I had no idea at the time that I was a living, breathing cliche.

Of course, the fact that the agent’s eyes glazed over six sentences in was probably my first clue.

I see a lot of manuscripts. They’ve given me a whole new perspective. I mean, like those agents, I see ALL the mistakes. They crop up in something of a pattern and are as predictable as rain. (I have yet to abandon cliches.)

Avoidance of these mistakes will make you a better writer. And keep you from publishing your project before it’s fully baked, or getting your feelings hurt when your work gets rejected.