When my son started to speak, he did many of the normal, sweet things toddlers do. He mispronounced words, used improper sentence structure, and—most horrifying of all—he ad-adverbed. Yeah, you read that right. He doubled adverbs. His favourite was ‘alsoly.’

Are you kidding me?

Also-ly?

I had only been writing in earnest for about two years, and his crimes against words made me think I’d birthed a monster.

You may be a new writer; you may have experience galore. But by now you’ve probably noticed that the most effective way to start a riot at a writer’s party is to stand up, clink your glass for attention, and declare, “Adverbs are wonderful!”