Each day she removes a small portion of the unwanted things in people's lives, though all of it, she thinks, was previously wanted, once useful. She feels the sun scorching the back of her neck. The heat is at its worst now, the rains still a few months away. The task satisfies her. It passes the time.

With children the clock is reset. We forget what came before

A lot of my upbringing was about denying or fretting or evading.

The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace. Style and personality are irrelevant. They can be formal or casual. They can be tall or short or fat or thin. They can obey the rules or break them. But they need to contain a charge. A live current, which shocks and illuminates.

Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world as you can.You will not regret it.

The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace.

I would not send a first story anywhere. I would give myself time to write a number of stories.