So help me if I have to type this out again, there will be beatings. You know what? I no longer have a superstitous dread of telling people about my ideas for stories before I've finished the story itself. You know why? Do you know how much work I've put into learning how to write? Do you know how many people out there are enough like me to come up with a similar story, even given the same starting idea? Do you know how many "original" ideas there are?

You can have my ideas for free. You won't be able to do a thing with 'em.

On the other hand, I now have a superstitious dread of trying to post anything directly regarding Writing on this blog, because Blogger wipes it out ever time. This is the third time I've tried to write this post: I went through "Feather" again, passed it to Lee, and got a thumbs up on the new direction. "Ten times better," he said. I asked him what it would take to make it a story he personally found great instead of just good, and he said there was no way. I pondered. "Not even if there were really great lines?" "That might do it," he said.

You know what else? It's really hard to come up with sarcastic remarks for your own straight lines.