Someone once told me the one thread that runs through them all is a premium on personal courage - not intellectual courage, but just plain physical courage.
Events alone rarely provide much guide to the future.
The ones that measure up are not always the ones you expect.
Brilliantly lit from stem to stern, she looked like a sagging birthday cake.
I never earned a dollar that was not somehow through writing.
I look for something that is highly unusual, involving ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations.