Abusing adverbs is a no no

I seriously started seeing my writing was clearly not being effective.  I would send emails and eventually, if I was lucky, I got a response and it was not always what I wanted.  I definitely needed to improve my writing because it was clearly holding me back. -Gabe

You see what I did there?

Adverbs wreak of nervousness in your writing.  There's a lack of confidence when a writer abuses adverbs.  I look at sales emails all day and I count the number of unnecessary adverbs in paragraphs.  You'd be surprised how powerful your writing can be without beating around the bush.

You see that's a negative with adverbs-they let you beat around the bush and prevent you from asking for what you want.  Mark Twain has a quote that sums up the abuse of adverbs.

"I am dead to adverbs; they cannot excite me. To misplace an adverb is a thing which I am able to do with frozen indifference; it can never give me a pang. ... There are subtleties which I cannot master at all,--the confuse me, they mean absolutely nothing to me,--and this adverb plague is one of them. ... Yes, there are things which we cannot learn, and there is no use in fretting about it. I cannot learn adverbs; and what is more I won't."- "Reply to a Boston Girl," Atlantic Monthly, June 1880

 I agree with Mark.  Adverbs do not excite me either.  They take away the power a sentence can give for call to action.   Let's be honest, prospects know you want something from them.  We don't just call(most of the time) asking how they are.  They know this.  We need to stop insulting the intelligence our prospects have.  It's a challenge, but by removing unnecessary adverbs, you can help your writing stand out from the rest.

For information on the various types of adverbs, I love Grammar Girl.