I used to assign the following editing exercise to my students (and to some of my wordier colleagues):

• Choose a page or two of your own writing to revise. 

• Circle or highlight all the "be-verbs": is, was, are, were, be, being, been. 

• If more than two sentences per paragraph contain at least one be-verb, reduce the number of be-verbs in your writing sample at least by half.

My formula lacked precision, but it worked! Almost like magic, their writing became punchier, livelier, and more human as soon as they had completed the exercise. 

First, though, I usually had to answer a few questions: 

How can I get rid of my be-verbs without changing the meaning of my text?
Where possible, rephrase passive sentences in the active voice (for example, "The research was performed" becomes "We performed the research") and replace be-verbs with active verbs  ("It is easy to see" becomes "We can easily see").

Why should I bother?
Because be-verbs add no new energy to a sentence; they indicate a stable state of existence rather than an action, intention, or change. When you default to be-verbs in sentence after sentence, you risk lulling your readers straight to sleep. 

Which sentences should I focus on changing? 
Choose sentences in key positions that lack energy or agency ("It is the intention of this paper..."), and try to avoid stringing together two or more be-verb sentences in a row – unless, of course, you've used those verbs on purpose for rhetorical effect ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."), or if your revision would sound more awkward than the original ("To exist, or not to exist? That question lends itself to careful interrogation.")

Where can I learn more?
Eventually, I expanded my one-page editing exercise into a popular little book calledThe Writer's Diet, and I developed a free online test that highlights your be-verbs and tells you how many are too many. (If 4% or more of your total word count consists ofbe-verbs, according to my admittedly subjective algorithm, you should consider eliminating at least a few).

I recommend that you use the online test together with the book, rather than as a stand-alone tool. Otherwise you may end up more confused than enlightened! Plus, you'll miss out on a lot of fun stuff: stylistic nuances, quirky examples, and practical exercises to help you sharpen your style.

If you can't get hold of the book, my online User Guide will help you get started, and this in-depthWriter's Diet Clinic video shows you how to use my free Writer's Diet plug-in for MS Word to diagnose full-length documents on your own desktop. Round off your tour of my free resources with To Be (Or Not to Be), a quick, playful Wordcraft Workout on my YouTube channel.

And if you're a WriteSPACE member, you can dig deeper with these premium resources:

• Generate an individual Action Plan for every writing sample you test with Writer’s Diet Plus, an advanced diagnostic tool available to WriteSPACE members only.

• Visit the WriteSPACE Library to watch craft-focused videos including "Writing Wizardry," which recasts the Writer's Diet as a magic potion for revivifying somnambulant verbs and zombie nouns.

• Join me live in my weekly Virtual Writing Studio to meet other writers from around the world, get some focused writing done, and receive targeted feedback on your Writer's Diet test results.

Be proactive and send those pesky be-verbs back to the sticky honeycomb where they belong!  

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On November 14/15, I engaged in a lively discussion on “Writing and Community" with Max Orsini, co-editor of Student Writing Tutors in their Own Words: Global Voices on Writing Centers and Beyond (Routledge 2022). Unfortunately, Max’s co-editer Loren Kleinman was unable to join our conversation due to illness in her family.

In the first hour of this WriteSPACE Special Event, Max spoke about his academic background and his experience of co-editing the book, a polyvocal celebration of collaborative learning, on-the-job education, and the vital role of university writing centers in empowering both students and tutors to find their own voice. In the second hour, Max prompted us to reflect on our own most memorable experiences of writing in community.

Here is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ first-person account of the live event:

…………….

This session was a very helpful reminder for all that at any and every stage of your project and career, it’s essential to find a supportive and engaging writing group that suits you and your goals.

A few standout quotes from this session:

• “Good thinking and good writing happen in discussion.”

• “While swimming in the sea of untrained learning, doubt can creep in. We all need barriers, boundaries, and pathways because we can’t always solve every problem on our own.”

• “I’ve learned how to let go of the reins and trust the process more, which has been beneficial for me both as a musician and a writer.”

We began the session with Max discussing how he discovered his passion for student teaching and writing communities. From a background in comparative literature, he became interested in creative writing communities while working as an advisor at his university’s academic writing centre. His book project Student Writing Tutors in their Own Words: Global Voices on Writing Centers and Beyond (Routledge 2022), co-edited with Loren Kleinman, came to fruition from working as a graduate student and English Language Learner writing specialist. The book celebrates 26 different voices from around the world and is divided into three parts:: ‘How We Help’, ‘A Voice of One’s Own’, and ‘How Writing Communities are Made’. Tutors and tutees, mentors and mentees share their experiences on writing with others and the impact that collaboration had on their writing practice.

Max shared his personal experiences as a mentor facilitating meet-up groups for post-graduate academics to help people find their voice and a space to express process writing. More than anything, he wanted to hold the space for them as a place to work through ideas. It was especially interesting to hear Helen and Max’s discussion about process writing and the imposter syndrome felt by many early career academics. Some writers, academic writers in particular, get enculturated to think that their writing is not valuable unless every word is going to get published. So, in this sense, process writing becomes seen as “a waste of time.” Max offered an insightful metaphor to challenge this assumption: the writer as a musician. A musician needs to practice articulating every note again and again before the final performance, the process of preparation is fundamental. In this way, the processes of playing an instrument and “writing to think” are very similar! 

Process writing in a community helps provide resources and feedback to fuel your thinking. Writing communities can also offer pastoral support and are a space where you can alleviate your doubts about writing; chances are that someone else in the group has had a similar experience. It is precisely in this context that the energy and impetus for Max and Loren’s book emerged.

Another useful metaphor from the discussion was the writer as a swimmer. When you ask an academic where they learnt to write, Helen noted, they usually respond with something akin to the mantra ‘sink or swim!’ The untrained writer is either adrift or desperately treading water. In isolation, this is a terrible challenge! Writing communities can be a place to inspire and uplift adrift writers and redirect them towards the fast lane. (See Helen’s Times Higher Education article “Academic Writing: How to Stay Afloat.”)

Max then led us through a reflective freewriting activity to examine the writing communities we have been a part of. We were asked to recall a time when we inhabited a ‘centre of writing’ and had gathered together to explore ideas, create collaboratively, or write alone together. We discussed the different kinds of communities that can exist: for example, process writing groups, virtual writing groups, mentored groups, non-hierarchical groups, and immersive workshops with others, just to name a few. This exercise highlighted the important notion that you may need different kinds of writing groups at different times.

Writing groups, we learned, can focus and improve the quality of your work as well as your positivity towards your own writing. If you missed this stimulating session, why not take the time right not to reflect on the writing communities that you have been a part of? Start by freewriting for 10 minutes or so about the various types of groups you’ve been part of, then spend some time imagining the ideal writing group for your current project.

It was a fascinating session! A hearty thank you to Max and Helen for sharing their experiences and expertise with us all.  

We concluded our session with a collaborative poem:

The cloak of writing

            Across oceans

            Included

            Comfortable togetherness

            Compassion

            Abundance

            Generosity

            Empowerment

A recording of this WriteSPACE Special Event is now available in the WriteSPACE Library.

Not a member yet? Register here to receive an email with the video link.

Better yet, join the WriteSPACE with a free 30 day trial, and access our full Library of videos and other writing resources.

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In response to my recent  post about my November 30-day Writing with Pleasure Challenge, subscriber Tineke D'Haeseleer wrote:

• I am so happy to hear about your alternative to the madness of NaNoWriMo and its derivatives. In the art world (and particularly on Instagram), #inktober is the big "draw every day" equivalent that sends everybody scurrying for their inks and pens and paper. Since a few years, there is a follow-up art challenge called #slowvember (initiated by illustrator Lee White), where you spend an entire month on the same piece of art. It's aimed to counter the productivity hype and savour the slow process of discovering what you really want to say with that art.

So what might Slowvember look like for writers? Participants in writing challenges already tend to work on the same piece of writing all month. But their goal is volume and velocity, not the acquisition of new skills or the slow wonder of discovery.

As any serious athlete knows – and as Aesop's patient tortoise taught the hasty hare – sometimes you have to slow down to move forward. In the words of authorAnne Lamott, "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."

Here are a few suggestions for slowing down your writing this Slowvember and beyond:

• Read. Virtually any book can help you become a more contemplative and craft-focused writer. You might want to start by choosing one that has the word slow in the title: for example, The Art of Slow Writing by Louise de Salvo or The Slow Professor by Maggie Berg and Barbara Seeger.
  

• Relish. The more you enjoy writing, the more you'll write. My 30-day Writing with Pleasure Challenge provides you with prompts for writing with pleasure every day throughout November. It's not too late to slow down and join us!
  

• Retreat. I know of no better way to unplug and reset than by treating yourself to a writing retreat, preferably in a beautiful location and in the company of fellow writers. Speaking of which – there's still space available in my 2023 writing retreats: Island Time on Waiheke Island in New Zealand and Mountain Rise in Wengen, Switzerland. Something to look forward to even in the cold November rain!

This Slowvember, why not set yourself the delicious challenge of moving forward by slowing down?

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WriteSPACE members enjoy a complimentary subscription to Helen’s Word as part of their membership plan (USD $15/month or $150/year). Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE now and get your first 30 days free.

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