Tom Swifties

Beware of the adverb that is obvious, repetitious and needless.
"Fire," he shouted excitedly. (How else would you shout it?)
"We're going to have a baby," she said anticipatingly. (No surprise there.)
In situations like these examples, the sentences have much more punch without the adverbs. Adverbs are most effective when they contain a surprise rather than the obvious.
Consider these two sentences. "He quickly ran to the finish line" and "He slowly ran to the finish line." The second one certainly has more intrigue. How about these? "She smiled happily" and "She smiled sadly." Again, the second one is far more interesting.
Overuse of adverbs has led to a word game commonly known as "Tom Swifties," so named because the Tom Swift books of yesteryear are so full of adverbs. The idea of a Tom Swiftie is to turn an adverb into a pun or play on words. Here are some examples:
"I'm an artist," she said easily.
"I had a bypass operation," he said heartily.
"I'll never stick my hand in a lion's cage again," he said offhandedly.
I'll leave you with this one:
"I dropped the toothpaste," he said crestfallen.