[image error]Writers usually learn early on to avoid cliches like the plague, since trite phrases can drag a reader out of a story and spoil the illusion of living in the characters' shoes. But sometimes it's hard since they trip off my keyboard so easily.

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to write "he reached out and touched her" but stopped myself because of the AT&T slogan, "Reach Out and Touch Someone." I don't want echoes of 21st century life in my Regency historicals, so each time I have...