Life is not easy. We all have problems-even tragedies-to deal with, and luck has nothing to do with it. Bad luck is only the superstitious excuse for those who don't have the wit to deal with the problems of life.

To my way of thinking, the slavery issue is just an excuse to allow some people to do hateful things and feel righteous about it.

Work extra hard on the beginning of your story, so it snares reader's instantly. And know how you're going to end your story before you start writing. Without a sense of direction, you can get lost in the middle.

I know why people die of hopelessness. It comes on like a thick blanket, covering your thoughts, your confidence, creeping into your mind and filling the corners. I lie in the dark, suffocating under horrible dispare, wishing I were dead. I sleep, then wake, then sleep. The sleep is filled with monstrous dreams that attack, cry out, and vanish, leaving me once more awake and staring into the darkness. Help me! My mind is screaming, but there is no one to hear.

In a mystery, you must play fair by giving all the clues, but disguise them by immediately distracting the reader with something else.

Don't matter if you believe in them or not. If they're there, they're there,' Mrs. Phipps said.

Life isn't measured in minutes, but in heartbeats.