Don't give me what I ask for, give me what I need.

Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes. The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story... To make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all.

Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story.

The bad ideas kind of just drop out of the mix. You forget about them. The good ones stick around.

She didn't see him at first. She was watching the dancers. Her color was high, and there were deep dimples at the corners of her mouth. She looked nine miles out of place, but he had never loved her more. This was Willa on the edge of a smile.

Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.

They were trying to run, trying to hide. But the rock would not hide them; the dead tree gave no shelter.