I love wine. I love dry reds, dry whites, a few semi-dries. No sweets. I know what I like when I taste it. I’m lost when someone tries to describe “what” I’m tasting.

Tiger Lily decided to help me out by showing me other people are as lost as I. She grabbed an article from HuffPost.com, and for a few newsletters, she is going to give us an example of overused phrases and ideas.

Here is #3.

Lift. Mid-palate lift; back-end lift; lifted flavors -- talk to folks who use this and you're likely to receive a number of explanations about how 'lift' fits into one's sensory experience. Lift may refer to just about anything you'd like, which serves to keep it mystical and giggle-producing. Our spirits and senses may be indeed lifted during a glass. Wine may transcend the last sip. A glassful can exhibit a raw or refined energy, alive and changing. There's no doubt certain writers can reasonably justify -- to their minds -- the use and meaning of lift. Whatever the intent, the reference comes off as obscure when applied to wine.

If any of the sentences below describe you, you have no right to complain about your writing career:

Another pervasive mindset among aspiring writers is the “build it and they will come” mentality.

How in the hell are people supposed to find your writing? Dumb luck? Extrasensory perception?

The recipe for success as a writer is simple — find people who want to read your type of writing and get your writing in front of them.

I get it. You just want to write. You think good writing should be enough on its own. It’s not.