Write Away

A lot of people who complain about adverbs don't even know what they are. They're not just those (apparently no-good, awful, amateurish) words that end in "-ly". They're any word that modifies a verb. Somehow words like "often" and "never" don't get picked on. I roll my eyes when people pick on adverbs as a whole instead of saying what they really mean.

Do you hate when people modify a less descriptive word like "ran" instead of using a more specific word like "sprinted"? Fine. You can make a fine argument for that. But say that.

However, like the others said, I don't believe in rigid rules for writing. Especially rules that hold up one writer, like Hemingway, as the standard that all others should follow.