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As a result, I get not-so-cryptic messages from Gerry telling me: Quit having everyone breathe! laugh

Uhh... Gerry, if everyone stops breathing, they'll die laugh . Of course, I know what she means. She means quit telling the reader that everyone is breathing - or at least, don't do it quite so often. After all, if they are still talking, they are obviously still breathing.
LOL! Hahahah. That bit actually made me snort, heh. It really is handy to put in a sigh here and an inhale there! At least Gerry points it out for you, eh? I guess one challenging part of writing is you have to decide what to include and what not to include-- do you include every sigh? Every shift of the hands? Every item in the room? Of course not. But choose the ones to include...well, there's the tricky part. You don't want to bog down the work, but you do want to fill your world! And sometimes, those people have to breathe! goofy