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One Lesson I've Learned as a Writer #IWSG #amwriting


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.

Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and this month's Co-Hosts:

Comments

Good advice and good examples. We can get lazy.
I fear I may be an adverb offender. Going to have to take a look at that.
Tamara Narayan said…
Yep, action verbs rock! I hope those brownies tasted as amazing as they look.
Pat Garcia said…
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
Awesome! I want some of those brownies. Isn't it amazing how much we continue to learn and evolve with writing?
Nicki Elson said…
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.