Writing is at its best when it is telling stories. Sometimes the stories you tell are total fiction, sometimes total fact, but when you are writing you are telling a story, you are communicating ideas. Whether fact or fiction, you need to choose the right words; you need to say things in the right way. It's sort of like playing with a big pile of Legos. If you want what your building to look the way you want, you've got to pick just the right pieces. It's the same when you are writing; you've got to choose just the right pieces so what you're putting together will come out just right!

Listening to the stories of my family, I learned how important details are. You know those blow-up lawn decorations that you see at Halloween and Christmas? Well sometimes writing can be like one of those decorations before you turn the air pump on: It's flat and you can't really tell what it is. But when you turn the pump on, the details appear, and the pumpkin, Santa, or whatever, seems to come alive! It's the details that make it work. Writing is just the same. I have to say we've all been victims of "flat" writing, but when you pump the right details into your writing, those details help your writing come alive!