A Well-Used Adverb

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Good morning, The Wonderfell Way.

A consistent word prompt to start the day.

¡Olé! O/

Sitting in the sunrise, pixels on a page, the stage is set, the page is met to have a good day.

So... here we go.

On with our show...

Hope all's well with you today.

Business type thoughts this morning.

There's two craft modes to being a writer of any sort: The Act of Writing and The Act of Editing.

If you look at The Archaic Slabs at the end of any handwritten entry here, you'll notice I don't edit much.

Two reasons:

• One: This is a journal and no-edits are part of the charm.
• Two: I've been writing for a long time. The edits come preloaded while I make each sentence.

Experience of craft is in each clause.

"Because you found your writing voice, Wynn."
-Reader That's Read A Lot Their Whole Life and Also Writes

Finding one's voice as a writer is just a matter of trusting one's voice.

You're not someone else; you're you.

Why would you want to sound like someone else?

It brings insincerity to your work to try and sound like another.

The best way to establish your writing voice is not just to write, but to write comfortably.

A well-used adverb.

If I were trying to write like some other author or poet, I'd almost certainly leave out any adverbs.

Stephen King deplores adverbs; he despises semi-colons, too.

It's music, it's rhythm, it's instrumentation, it's audience.

A horror story full of semi-colons and adverbs drags along and preaches.

Adverbs are condescending in the hands of amateurs.

But they have their place.

Poe would horrifically use them.

But he was preachy, and at times condescending.

Mr. King is neither; they wouldn't fit his voice.

I'm also certain, as he's so well written and read, Stephen wouldn't begrudge Virginia Woolfe's use of her semi-colons. They fit her way, her rhythm.

When you're teaching something a gentle adverb helps.

Exclamation points, outside of quotation marks, are an author laughing at their own joke.

The voices of some authors laugh alongside their readers. O/

Some do not...

Some people are funny. O/

Some are not...

Some people are humble.

We all should be. O/

Grammar is a canvas; not a prison.

Another writing about writing entry... best to stick to what you love.

Mornings, daydreams, a hound dog, and thoughts of you, and words, words, words for reveries.

Take care, dot your eyes, cross your teas with sugar please, and make wonderful this wonderful day.