Go Ahead, Self-Edit

Self-editing is hard. We use words we like, we think we see what we think we see on the page, and sometimes it’s hard to change it. But a good writer has to be a good editor too.

Tom Myer this week offered up five tips for improving your writing. One of my favorites, and a good reminder to self:

Slay as many adverbs as you possibly can. Adverbs, if you’ll recall from Schoolhouse Rock, modify a verb or an adjective. Most of the time, they offer empty calories that could be replaced with a strong, hearty, nutritional verb. For example, why write “she ran quickly” (quickly being the adverb that modifies the verb “run”) when you could write “she sprinted”? The stronger verb will put some vim and vigor in your sentences, whereas adverbs just pollute what you’re trying to say. In the above example, “currently” is an adverb, and so is “regretfully”–see if you can find any others.

Who doesn’t love a writing lesson that references Schoolhouse Rock?!