It’s one of those quiet mornings when I should be hard at work and, instead, I’m musing on the upcoming week while my toddler plays in my office. I realize I have a lot to be grateful for. Sharing my thoughts about some of the things I’ve learned about writing these past forty years is just one way to celebrate.

1. Good writing isn’t always meant to be shared. Sometimes it’s best to hold it inside, let it age, savor it.
2. If you share your fiction writing with the people closest to you, remember their opinions might be biased.
3. If you truly love writing, you’ll be willing to endure all forms of humiliation to see your work in print.
4. Keep a notebook with you. Write down ‘story sparkers’ as they come to you.
5. Also write down incongruent ideas–adjectives and adverbs and verbs and nouns that usually don’t go together. Sometimes these…