It happens. We get into the rut of writing so much on social media until we adopt shorter, more convenient ways to be understood. For instance, Twitter allows for 140 characters when posting publicly while cell phone usage with texting and posting to social media calls for key strokes that are far faster to use when shortening the word laughter with LOL or a smiley face.
Because of this, we have grown accustomed to reading faster and trained our brains to have a shorter way of understanding. Many times, this type of social media slang may inadvertently end up in unedited manuscripts due to force of habit. I’ve run across it on many occasions, and the authors totally missed it because their own brains filled in the meaning.
Therefore, try and make it a practice to produce a full thought in writing without the social media jargon, even on social media when possible. Doing this will actually assist you in expressing yourself in various ways, shorter or longer, without the ijs, oan, and the rest of the lmbos. Your editor will appreciate it, and your readers will as well.
This writing tip was written by author, blogger and literary visionary
Mirika Mayo Cornelius. Read more about her at mirikacornelius.com and
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