What You Don't Know by Andy Scheer

I felt confident submitting a sample of my work in progress.

Having studied the craft for years, I thought I had my bases covered.

Reviewing that sample, I could have confidently worked my way through a checklist of common problems, knowing I'd committed none of those errors. Sure enough, my critiquer didn't call me on those.

Instead, he showed me how my prose had fallen into another, less common trap. It's a problem I never heard a writing teacher discuss – until now.

In the days ahead I'll work through my manuscript, eyes open to a tendency I never knew. Once that's fixed, I'll be ready to discover where else I've gone wrong.

I don't expect my prose ever to be perfect. But I sure want it to get better.