Writing: Up and Down

Two beta readers returned my latest novel with much praise and scant comments. Yippee for me, the writer needing those bones of optimism in a desert of publication hope. As I scanned the comments, fixing the few things identified, I noticed the word "up" used too many times in a paragraph. I wondered, "How many times have I repeated that word?"

The horror! 312 times in the first 15,345 words. Way too often I believed and then started looking at each occurrence of "up" and "down" in that file. Three hours later, only 123 "ups" remained, and the writing improved with each removal. "Down" was less offensive, but also diminished in use. People don't have to sit down or stand up. They sat or stood in most cases.

I've been good at spotting the obvious overuse of a single unusual word, akimbo being a prime example. It can only show up once in the novel even if the character stands that way a lot. It is a word that tells the reader "look at this word I used". That doesn't always help maintain the suspension of disbelief so desperately needed.

So...how do you spot the overuse of "common" words other than by stumbling across it as I did? And where is that program that can find every unique word and list it in an output file showing you all the words you've used and how often? I want it. I want it now. Down with those words that mess up my manuscripts.