Happy July to All Writers! Hop on the Insecure Writers Support Group train HERE.
How is your writing? Mine has grown less and less frequent over the years. But I AM still writing! I’m excited about my romantic suspense WIP–it’s just that my day job has grown in scope and I don’t write if I travel on the weekends.
As I write this post, I’m in Nashville, visiting a good friend who moved here recently. We cooked quite a few dishes for his brother’s July 4th party, including spicy grits, pimento dip, banana pudding, spiked lemonade, and red velvet brownie stars.
IWSG Question: What is one valuable lesson you’ve learned since you started writing?
I could fill pages with all I’ve learned since I started writing ten years ago, but I’ll narrow it down to this:
Use punchy action verbs instead of adverbs.
Instead of Joe ran quickly … Joe dashed.
Instead of She looked frantically through her purse … She rummaged through her purse.
My debut novel, With Good Behavior, was full of adverbs and bloated writing. I sliced 30,000 words and my publisher will re-release the tighter version soon. I cut the book down to its fighting weight!
Check out this pdf by Deanna Carlyle, 1000 Verbs to Write By.
Instead of Joe ran quickly … Joe dashed.
Instead of She looked frantically through her purse … She rummaged through her purse.
My debut novel, With Good Behavior, was full of adverbs and bloated writing. I sliced 30,000 words and my publisher will re-release the tighter version soon. I cut the book down to its fighting weight!
Check out this pdf by Deanna Carlyle, 1000 Verbs to Write By.
Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and this month’s Co-Hosts:
Jennifer Lane Books 
Good advice about the adverbs. That's one I really I have to pay more attention to.
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Good advice and good examples. We can get lazy.
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I fear I may be an adverb offender. Going to have to take a look at that.
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Yep, action verbs rock! I hope those brownies tasted as amazing as they look.
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Yes, that is the something that we all have to learn. I must confess I write out my manuscript first and think about the verbs when I start revising and insure that they are punchy. All the best. Shalom aleichem,Pat G at Everything Must Change
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Awesome! I want some of those brownies. Isn't it amazing how much we continue to learn and evolve with writing?
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Ooh, spicy grits! Hope you had a great holiday away, and good for you keeping up w/ your writing even w/ your busy schedule. Hooray for actionny verbs! I wonder why we all gravitate to soo maaany adverbs when we're newbie writers.
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