A good writer knows what repetitive words he or she uses unconsciously. A few years ago I published a novel. This week I had an opportunity to send it to a traditional publisher of some repute. I thought: ‘I want the manuscript to be as close to perfect as I can make it, so I’ll take another look at it’. Knowing my go-to words are ‘that’ and ‘just‘, the first thing I did was find out how many times I’d used the word ‘that’. 807!! With editing, I happily reduced that number to 197.
How does that happen?? Well, we all have idiosyncrasies with our language. Yes, I had an editor and she missed it too. Then I checked the other devil word, ‘just‘. 234 times when only 5-6 were used appropriately. Yikes!
Be self-aware as a writer. Know your strengths, yes, but also your weaknesses. Know your eccentricities with language. 
“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.”~~ Walt Whitman
“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.
But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.“~~ T. S. Eliot
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