Once upon a time, I believed I was a writer-savant. I came to that belief during my school years, and the feelings solidified during my all-lower-case university days.

In my defense, I tend to do well with scholastic writing, mark-wise, so it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.

Daily writing prompt

If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?

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I did edit my academic works, a habit I excluded from my personal writing as unnecessary, what with all the savanting.

That illusion/self-delusion stood for quite some time since I didn’t go back and reread the literary gems I’d shared with notebooks, or online.

And then I did. That was a mistake. Ouch. What a blow to the ego. As it turns out, arrogance is almost always unwarranted. Mine certainly was. It’s unfortunate that I’m prolific – there’s a lot of after-the-fact correcting to be had. The volume is why I decided to let them stand as “true representations of who I was at that moment.” If I’d considered the project manageable, authenticity would’ve been rejected out of hand.

(I’d tell you that I’ve outgrown my arrogance, but I’d be lying. I’m working on it. Sort of.)

One thing that really stood out was my use of the word “really.” I’m apparently quite fond of qualifiers. I’m big with adjectives and adverbs. They’re not my whole life, but they’re an enthusiastic chunk.

Part of that’s a female thing. I read an essay recently that pointed out that women tend to be more apologetic and equivocal with their writings and opinions. I was pretty sure I believed them.

The other part is my belief that I need more emphasis than simple language provides. You’ve got to hammer that point home to make sure the reader gets it.

Stephen King isn’t my favourite author. I enjoy some of his works – I like Firestarter and The Stand very much – but others are too dark, too nasty, or too long for me. He is, however, an undeniable craftsman. Mr. King has something to say about descriptors in writing, especially about the adverbs I favour. It’s a quote I’m fond of, though rarely do people share the whole thing:

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day…fifty the day after that…and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then, you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then, it’s – GASP!! – too late.

Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

That’s quite a few paragraphs for me to get to the point: I overuse the word “really.” I’m better than I was – you should see the piles littering the floor about my desk – but I’d still rank it as a word I use to excess.

It’s just really handy.