I’m from the South, and we Southerners love colloquial expressions. They’re fun, and they often put important life-changing maxims into humorous (and memorable) bite-sized statements. And one of my favorites is: It’s time to fish or cut bait! To be honest, this expression has been my mantra more than once in my writing career. It simply means to stop hesitating and move forward instead of giving up and settling for the status quo. Make a Decision Who wants to cut the bait instead of being the fisherman? Not me! And I don’t think you do either. (Okay, so we usually bait our hooks with worms, instead of cutting bait. I'm pretty sure you still understand what I mean.) Anyway...we have to make
Some people are just born with a finely-tuned ‘what-iffer’—and this valuable faculty can churn out some wonderful story generators and ideas for writers. So, is your ‘what-iffer’ in good working order? When you hear of or read about a current news story, do you automatically wonder what would happen if. . .? When you inadvertently overhear an interesting tidbit of conversation as you are out and about, do you find yourself thinking it would make a great line in a book, especially if. . .? When you read about an event or person in history, do you ponder what would have happened if. . .? Do you wish you could change the ending of some catastrophe or incident? Have you considered a story based
