Some
of the nicest moments in my life happen when nothing happens. I think
of kitchen conversations with friends, sitting in my garden, watching a
sunset, taking a walk in the country with my sweetheart. Peace is the
reigning atmosphere, and it nourishes me. It's what I most crave in my
life.
But not in my writing.
A writing teacher once told
me: "If your story is too peaceful, if nothing happens to force change,
it's not a story." The definition of story is something happening and
someone changing because of that event.