Sounds like a lot of fun to write and to read!

You mean, I can't just sit here and read all these wonderful post on christianwriters.com?

My take would be that anyone who keeps calling a writer is trying to drum up business. Professional publishers don't have time for that.

This is a good analogy. And cake bakers use different techniques with the same recipe. Some measure, others don't. Some experiment, others don't. Some taste as they go, others don't. Tasting as they go is the editing that authors do.

This seems like an easier way to make an outline. I'll give it a try. Thank you.

Going from neighbor to neighbor would work for a while. Do they have other relatives? Can they rent/buy a used travel trailer? Hospital bills will not arrive immediately. There would be some time when they would have money in the bank. When the bills do come, they could probably make arrangements to pay some each month. I think it depends on where you want the story to go.

It's much neater to hoard stuff on your computer than in your basement.

Touching a shoulder, flashing "that" smile, a "honey" or "sweetheart," little things can imply a romance without getting too deep.

I think my short stories mostly have a specific setting. My first book was deliberately vague, like Nicholas.

Somehow being an underdog does not surprise me. Thanks for the post. The quiz was fun.

You might trying reading a book Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. She takes a character very opposed to my world view and makes him, at the very least, understandable.

Like write what you want to read.

Thank goodness for places to store what doesn't work here. It might end up being the basis for another book!

Nor have I any experience in publishing, except that I don't have an agent either.