Laura, oh yes, do start writing again. See, you have all these ideas that have been in the back of your mind all these years and now they just want to come out and play! So glad you have returned to writing. Best of luck to you.

Congratulations, Laura. Write on!!!

Half an hour ago I had one vague idea - now I have 3! Naturally none of them bear any resemblance to the original, so I'd better go and write them down!

Calisa, thank you for your letter.

I do think it's important to describe things in your stories - nature, the character's home, the artist's work, the writer's office, the weather, the food, the river, Grandma's tea cup collection, Grandpa's collection of books, the disaster from the hurricane, etc. when writing.

I want the reader to be there, with me, in that scene. To that end, write what your character sees, hears, tastes, feels. It just makes your story better, richer, more emotional. It's more complete.

I do hear you, though, when you say that you don't want to over - describe and bore readers or have them flipping through pages.

Here's my answer: Describe, don't bore.

Describe enough to bring the reader into the scene, into the character's life, to be with her, but don't go on and on and on.

How to do this correctly? Study great writers. Study how they do it. Read books and magazine articles on how to write.

Then write. Edit. Delete. Write. Edit. Delete. Repeat.

What feels right to you? What's descriptive, but not too much?

Then you have your answer.

Always think of setting when you're writing the scene. And feed the setting into the passage or the paragraph. So, you don't have to have a long, boring paragraph setting up the farmland or the storm or the lake. The characters can talk and then one can look upwards at a funnel cloud. Or the characters can be screaming at each other and it's pouring rain and they wipe it off their face with impatient hands. Or, they can be whispering to each other under a tree as the sun sets, commenting on the colors. So setting should be integrated into the scene, not a distant part of the scene.

Also, while I'm thinking of it, use your senses. What do the characters see, feel, taste, hear, etc. And use colors to describe things. Use similes. It all works. Best of luck to you and I am thrilled that you are writing.

Dear Randy and Jenny,
Thanks so much for your comment! I truly hope it was helpful to your writing. Best of luck in 2016.

I am not a visual artist. I have zero artistic talent. I made Grenadine an artist in What I Remember Most partly because I want to be AN ARTIST!! Yes, I want to be a painter. I so envy their talents. I hope you like my book, I truly do.

PS. I have to rush out and buy What I Remember Most. It sounds awesome.