Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Edits and As's and Adverbs



I have a problem. I am addicted to two little letters: "ly". Apparently I've run up too much a charge at Lolly's Adverb Store, and I need to cut back on my spending. They're sending a big burly man to repossess the words "softly", "gently" and "slowly". I've been told that I need to join Adverbs Anonymous due to my abuse of those two poor little letters. Maybe someday they'll even forgive me.

See? I did it again! (Is the man going to repossess "burly" too? Cause I kinda like that one.)

You know, when I'm writing I don't quite realize how many times I use the word "as", either. I'm in first run edits on Dare to Believe, my first Gray Court novel, and "as" appears at least four times a page! I'm only on page 40 and spent an entire day doing nothing but rewriting most of the spots "as" shows up in. I think I've added almost a thousand words just eliminating that one!

Is there an As's Anonymous? Because I think I might have to attend their meetings, too. (Wait, As's? That didn't come out right...)

Feh. Off to do my morning stretches before I once again tackle The Battle of the As's. Seriously. I need help.

5 comments:

Brandy W said...

But it is truly funny. I liked "burly" too.

Dana Marie Bell said...

Mmm, big and burly... lol!

Robert C Roman said...

Would now be a bad or good time to point out that burly appears to be an adjective? It's modifying the noun 'man', not a verb or adjective. Not all words that end in 'ly' are adverbs. For example, 'lolly', which was a noun, specifically a candy on a stick, at least until webspeak got hold of it.

Dana Marie Bell said...

Thank you, Mr. Teacher. Ruin a good joke why don't ya. ;P

P.S.: This is my B-I-L and one of my beta readers. And he did NOT have the urge to scrub his eyeballs out with bleach after beta reading Very Much Alive, unlike some people we both know.

P.P.S.: Besides, "burlily" just didn't roll of the tongue, ya know? Who goes around saying burlily? That doesn't sound like a man, it sounds like a flower. YOU try and work "burlily" into a sentence. "He was burlily masculine"?

P.P.P.S.: Seriously? I've just been looking for an excuse to put up the Lolly song. I've had it running around in my head for DAYS. ;D

Robert C Roman said...

Hey, I understand completely - it's WAY better than the excuse I would have come up with.

No, you really don't want to know.

Favorite Quotes

"I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability." Ron White

"So let me get this straight. You want me to kill the little guys, kill the big guys, crowd control those I can't, buff the team, debuff the boss, keep myself alive, AND keep you alive, all while waving a stick and dressed in a towel?" - Anonymous Role Playing Gamer

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"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." - Marcus Cole, Babylon 5, "A Late Delivery From Avalon"

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