Cassandra

Half an hour? Seriously? My suggestion? Just write a sentence down. I don't care if it hooks the reader. I don't care if it's half-way decent. Just get that first ...

I think that when I end up rushing, I'm usually anxious to get finished. Don't be! Unless you have a deadline (yuck!), you have all the time in the world! ...

This probably won't be very helpful, but I wasn't actually knocked out--more like I passed out, and only for a few seconds. I was on the softball team in seventh ...

Aye. I use the phone book for last names sometimes, but I mostly stick to for first names.

I'll do one at a time, because I can't think of all the things I hate at once. 1. Poor grammar and spelling. I can't stand to read through something ...

Oy. I hate it when people can't bother to proof read their own stuff before they post. If it's important enough to you to post in front of everyone and ...

The characters don't always have to give a farewell...perhaps they're cut off, and can't finish their conversation? Oh, the drama! Or maybe one character is so angry they walk off ...

It doesn't really teach you to write, but I love Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon. I'm not sure if it's still in print anymore; I got it two years ...

Wow. I loved book five. Definitely one of my favorites out of the series. O.o Then again, maybe I only liked it so much because it was wicked long. XD ...

^ Oy. That's better than mine. I'd get this big, long, drawn out idea for a "novel" in my head when I was ten or eleven, then I'd try to ...

I second babynames.com. 'Tis my life saver, I tell you! Plus, I have this cool book, Character Development, that has a list of first and last names in the back, ...

Good point. This could probably be applied to my work in progress *pokes*. Mind you, the only way I move that piece forward is to think to myself, "Now, what ...

Or you could be sitting in a chat room talking about how badly you need to write this story/chapter/poem/novel but can’t get your mind around doing it. Admit it, we’ve ...

That's cool that you entered, even if you didn't win. I also just got that issue. I just started getting Writer's Digest this year, but I don't think I'll subscribe ...

A great thing to keep in mind when doing a crit, Jack. I find that too often I'm in category number three, but I'm trying to focus more on the ...