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