My repeating word is 'Towards'

Oh my bane, the word I have repeated on and on in my first books draft. Contemplating an online dictionary I got the following description:

–preposition Also, to·wards.
1. in the direction of: to walk toward the river.
2. with a view to obtaining or having; for: They're saving money toward a new house.
3. in the area or vicinity of; near: Our cabin is toward the top of the hill.
4. turned to; facing: Her back was toward me.
5. shortly before; close to: toward midnight.
6. as a help or contribution to: to give money toward a person's expenses.
7. with respect to; as regards: his attitude toward women.

–adjective
8.about to come soon; imminent.
9.going on; in progress; afoot: There is work toward.
10.propitious; favorable.
11.Obsolete.
a.promising or apt, as a student.
b.compliant; docile.

A word one can use for many a thing. A word I used too much. So much as that it started irritating me. So much that my wife, who is proofreading my first book, teases me with the word.
I am at a point I think about three or more times, before I put the word on paper.

What is the point I am making? The point is, when writing, you should not overuse one word. The name of the characters being frequently used is acceptable, but not any other word. My use of "Towards" was so frequent, that soon it would be irritating to a reader. Irritate a reader and said reader will put your book down and may never buy another book of yours again.

In my opinion this is a lesson to be learned as soon as possible. Writing my first manuscript I knew beforehand, about the wrongs of repeating words, yet I still made the mistake. For many writing you notice the fault less than a another person reading it. It is essential for a writer to check for such words.

Like I already mentioned (and could not mention enough) repeating words can be killing for your book. The story can be the story of the century, the prose near perfect but for that one repeating word and the reader will throw your book in a corner and curse you for branding that one word in their mind for ever. As a writer, you would not want that. In any case, I sure wouldn't want a reader to see my name and the only thought in the readers mind would be "Towards."

There are tools out online, one can get to help analyze your text for repeating words. Searching on google I found one called Textanz. There are many of these kind of tools which can help us find these words. Check your work regulary for repeating words.