Think I've done a post on this before, but it bears repeating. Ever notice how the last 10% of anything is the hardest to accomplish? That last 10% of recovering from a long cold (cough, cough), the last 10% of your NaNo novel, that last 10% of editing; all way more difficult than the first 90%. Seems like just when you think you're done, something else creeps up or you find more edits or you rush your recovery and start hacking up a lung again.

My only advice here is what I cheer to my niece as she runs around the track: "All the way!" In order to make writing work you must do it "all the way." You must finish writing that story and editing it! One of the biggest causes of rejection from publishers and agents is the 90% finished novel. Don't cheat yourself out of finishing a project right. Stick with it all the way to the end polish and you'll find real victory.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Write

So, you can probably tell by the lateness of this post that things have been a bit crazy. I don't have much time, so I'll just talk about one of the tips I picked up at Penguicon this year that has become immediately helpful.

The tip: Don't skimp on your secondary characters.

Remember that these are real people too, not just cardboard cut-out fillers. Right now I'm writing two secondary characters that don't even have names! Not good. They should not only have names, but hopes and dreams, and most importantly, a reason for being in your story.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Write

May the Fourth Be With You.

Okay, okay, so I know I promised a live Friday night post, but we were at the Geeky Burlesque last night and Penguicon is a marathon, not a sprint. What did you miss yesterday besides the Geeky Burlesque? Well, you missed a panel on tropes (where we discussed the anime harem, the magical, flying black man, the dead mom, the love triangle, and white dude saves the world), a fan discussion of Ray Bradbury, a panel on self-editing, makers panels, coding panels, science panels, costumes, ribbons, and lots of geeky T-shirts. Oh there were also a bunch of room parties, including a Harry Potter themed party with butter beer and caldron cakes!

What can we look forward to today? Well, my husband is already up and running a 5K! I'm sadly forced to skip out on BurleXcersice to write this blog and prepare to hear a reading by Michael Cieslak and Nicole Castle, go to a panel on blocking writer's block, give a talk on beekeeping, host Promptapalooza, attend the writer's reception, listen to advice on writing a great query, do a reading myself from my 5-minutes-in-the-future, detective, techno-thriller "Whispers of a Killer" with my pal Leslie (aka Skeeter Enright), maybe do an escape room, learn about psycho-linguistics from buddy Clif Flynt, watch terrible videos from the internet, and make our pilgrimage to the Demon Lobster podcast. Whew! Now you understand what I mean by marathon. This does not include possible room parties tonight!

Anyways, I've got to let you go. It's May the 4th, and Hoth Leia's hair won't braid itself!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Coming soon (next week), "Live from Penguicon, it's Friday Night!"

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

So here is your yearly friendly reminder that Penguicon is neigh. This year Penguicon is taking place Friday, May 3rd - Sunday, May 5th. What is Penguicon? It's basically a geek convention complete with science, technology, literature, scifi fandom, cosplay, open source, games, pop culture, and penguins. We've been going for the past 7? years, and have had a blast every time. This year I will be hosting a number of activities including a panel on tropes, a prompt writing extravaganza, a perfect pitch contest, a talk on beekeeping, and possibly a reading from my soon to be published detective techno-thriller. Don't miss out on all the great panels for writers!

Hope to see you there!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

The trunk banged shut with a resounding boom as he snatched his fingers back as if the lid had suddenly transformed into burning poison ivy. Spinning around, he kicked the candle with his foot, causing it to go rolling and guttering across the floor. In the inconstant light from the traveling candle, he could see an inky figure standing near the overturned chair with its hands on its hips.
 
So, this is another passage from Miles from Manistique close to the passage from the last post. Let’s dissect it a bit.

“The trunk banged shut with a resounding boom as he snatched his fingers back”: Not too bad, though, the “resounding boom” might be a little much. The banging lid certainly made a loud noise, and in this creepy setting it may have sounded louder than it really was, but still, a “resounding boom” is more the work of a rocket than a trunk.

“as if the lid had suddenly transformed into burning poison ivy.”: First of all, there are too many as’s in this sentence. Secondly, the poison ivy being on fire is also a bit too much. I think this sentence would’ve worked better if the trunk had suddenly caught fire OR been transformed into poison ivy.

“Spinning around, he kicked the candle with his foot, causing it to go rolling and guttering across the floor.”: I don’t mind this part. I actually really like the word guttering and it is something that only a candle does. But on second examination, what would he have kicked the candle with if not his foot?

“In the inconstant light from the traveling candle, he could see an inky figure standing near the overturned chair with its hands on its hips.”: Traveling is not the right word here. The candle doesn’t have an itinerary or a passport. It’s difficult because we’ve already sent the candle rolling, and probably don’t want to reuse that word, but what’s another word for rolling? The candle could be spiraling, spinning, turning, revolving, or rotating. I’m kinda partial to spiraling, but even better would be to cut out the clarification that the “inconstant light” is coming from the candle. The reader doesn’t need it. If we know that the only light is from the candle and that the candle has been kicked, then it follows that the light is now inconstant. The next problem is the “he could see.” It’s narrating senses which is generally a no-no. Previously discussed is the inconstant light of the candle, so if we simply said there was an inky figure, the reader can gather that the POV character saw them without having to say it.

The trunk slammed shut with a bang as he snatched his fingers back like the lid had suddenly transformed into poison ivy. Spinning around, he kicked the candle, causing it to go rolling and guttering across the floor. In the inconstant light, there was an inky figure standing near the overturned chair with its hands on its hips.
 
There, that’s better.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

"Jill cocked her head to the side. Peter struggled to keep the innocuous smile on his face. But as the silence yawned and seconds marched by into the irrevocable past, Peter began to sweat. Maybe he should have gone with the whole truth. After all, he had good intentions, and wanted to protect Genevieve and Jill if he could, if they would let him. Unfortunately, if Jill didn’t buy his lie now, it was unlikely that she would believe the truth afterwards." ~Excerpt from Miles From Manistique

The bold sentence above is one of my favorite sentences that I've written. I love the idea of time marching by, leaving the characters behind. I also love the turn of phrase "irrevocable past," because it is so true. We cannot change the past (unless we're playing with spells and/or time travel).

This sentence didn't start out so awesome though. There was talk of whether time should be marching into the future or the past ("time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future" - thank you Steve Miller Band). There was talk of whether the past was irretrievable or irrevocable. Also, I'm not sure whether the silence was always yawning or if it stretched in the beginning.

Just wanted to share.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Sorry for the hiatus. So much going on, and 2019 just seems to be slipping away. For everyone finding time a precious commodity in their lives, I will keep this post short and sweet.

Certainly as a NaNoWriMo advocate I'm a fan of big, fast accomplishments with lots of words. However, another good strategy for writing is just a little everyday. If you don't have a deadline staring you in the face and are finding it hard to get motivated, try writing a paragraph today instead of trying to write a whole chapter or a whole scene. Getting a few words on the page is better than being overwhelmed by the task and getting nothing down at all.

Cheers

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Honestly, I'd like this post to be a bit longer discussion on writing what you want versus writing what you've been contracted to write, but for reasons this is just an announcement. This morning I sent the 1st draft of my second contracted book to my publisher! Two down, one to go! Woohoo! Wish me luck on book #3!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Erm...Saturday morning...I think. Well, hello from Snowpocalyse 2019! I'm blogging to you from the Hilton DoubleTree Dearborn-Detroit and Confusion 2019 - Storming the Confusion. Confusion is a science fiction, fantasy, and fandom convention which has boasted a strong literature track in recent years. And it isn't your typical literature track.

Literature track head Annalee says that she's really trying to steer the con away from the broad overview panels other cons have like "Women in SciFi" and toward more specific and focused panels like "Women Over 50 as Heroes in SciFi and Fantasy".

Confusion is also one of the few local cons which has author readings almost every hour on Saturday, and I'm personally looking forward to a few of those.

Well, sorry for the short post, but I'm still recovering from the DJ John Scalzi dance party last night!

Expect more Confusion 2019 highlights in upcoming posts!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer