(For those who subscribe to the blog, my sincere apologies if you receive this twice; we’re having some technical difficulties on this end!)

Your wisdom for this week is hitting very close to home for me.

“When I was young, I observed
that nine out of ten things I did were failures.
So I did ten times more work.”

– George Bernard Shaw

My next book is due in two weeks.

As you can probably imagine, my fingers are flying fast and furiously over the keyboard. Plot twists, dialogue nuances, character strokes…I’m trying to hit them all, in just the right way using just the right words.

It’s what I do.

And I mess up many times.

Drafted scenes leave me written into corners I can’t escape. Dialogue that’s too “on the nose” (straightforward and mundane) leaps off the page and hits me in the face. Characters I have invented won’t cooperate with me.

A failure, each and every one.

Which is why I follow Shaw’s advice and do ten times more work.

Call me a perfectionist – go ahead, I know I’m guilty! 🙂 But readers deserve my extra effort.

I’ll bet Shaw would agree with another piece of advice I believe in.

“Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.”

– Hunter S. Thompson

So, tell me…

What do you do, whether it’s penning the “perfect” words or cooking your family’s favorite meal, that’s worth going the extra mile?

All my best,

Barbara