How’s Your Relationship with Verbs?

Join us for a practical exercise in the Writing Seasons Lab

Gather. Join. Contemplate. Revise. Synthesize. Collaborate.

What’s your relationship with verbs like?

If you’re in a Season of Craft, you might be knee-deep in edits with that persistent editorial voice whispering: Make it active. Keep it moving. Tighten up.

Even after all these years in publishing, my own relationship with verbs still needs work. It will probably always need work. Because when I’m writing from memory, my first drafts still often fall into passive or abstract phrasing, as if I’m trying to cushion the truth.

Do you ever feel that, too?

Over the years I’ve found that the ticket to writing in the active voice isn’t just about grammar or erasing passive voice from my mind — it’s knowing how to use verbs well in the editing process. And how to take a reflection and turn it into a moment of forward motion.

I think every writer has their own “verb relationship” to nurture. And one way to do that nurturing work is to build an internal verb “dictionary” — so that over time we more naturally reach for words that move.

A few notes on verbs

The best verbs are real verbs. Verbs that reflect actual things people do in their lives — not ones that float outside of context.

When I’m editing, I’m always on guard for verbs that pull the reader out of the moment.

So instead of something like “He pondered,” I’ll revise to “He thought” and then build out the texture from there — give the sentence some substance.

Not just that he pondered, but what he was doing while thinking. Was he turning a spoon in his coffee? Watching the rain collect on the window ledge?

That’s the kind of craft work we’re stepping into.

This Monday, one of the members of the Writing Seasons Lab is sharing a simple, powerful verb exercise in our Season of Craft space. When

Julie Gabrielli

¹ first shared casually about her verb exercise, I loved it so much that I invited her to post it for the whole Season of Craft thread so everyone in could see it and come practice together.

Consider this your invitation to you to come try it out with us.

Come practice building your verb dictionary with us in the Writing Seasons Lab

The Writing Seasons Lab is a quiet space (off Substack, hosted on Circle) where you’re invited to slow down, find your current writing season (there’s a quiz!) and gather with others who are navigating the same creative rhythms.

Whether you’re generating new ideas, revising deeply, trying to share your work more publicly or letting things just simmer — there’s a space for you.

The Lab is still in beta, which means:

• You can try it out free for 7 days — no credit card required.

• After that, beta access is $18/month.

• It’s a small, growing group. If you like the idea of a simple, season-based writing community, you’ll be joining at a time when you can shape the tone and direction of your own season space.

• And I’ll be in there too, offering support, monthly reflections and prompts as we build together.

The goal of joining the Writing Seasons Lab isn’t to “optimize your output.” It’s to reflect on where you are today in your Writing Season and to have support and resources as you navigate through each season.

When you sign up for the Writing Seasons Lab, you’ll be invited to take the Writing Seasons quiz, introduce yourself to your primary season space and get settled in.

So — how are you feeling about your verbs?

Come try the exercise with us on Monday in the Season of Craft. And stay a while.

1. Member Spotlight: Julie Gabrielli is an architect and storyteller who writes pieces like “The marvelous potential of spirals” in her newsletter, Homecoming. She also publishes an interview series called Reciprocity where she interviews nature writers such as Bill Davison (read his interview here) and Susannah Fisher (her interview lives here).