A way to identify a good anecdote is to pay attention to another person's reaction when you are telling them a story. For example, a few months ago I posted a little story on my mom's group list about a very frustrating but humorous moment I had with my toddler. My e-mail inbox filled up quickly with responses from other moms in group who could relate to my saga and enjoyed description of incident. "Aha," I thought, "that writes."

That evening, I sat down at my computer. I copied message I posted, added an introduction, a little more background, a couple more related anecdotes and a conclusion. Then I e-mailed it to editor of an anthology. Less than twenty-four hours later, I received an e-mail response.

At first I was a little worried. I thought a response that speedy could only mean I forgot to attach manuscript. Or maybe she did receive it, and was promptly rejecting it.

I clicked on e-mail and was happy to discover I received an acceptance. It's first and last time I've received such a quick response, but if I hadn't been perceptive about how enjoyable little anecdote was, I would have forgotten incident completely and lost story.

Keeping a personal journal is also a very effective way to capture your anecdotes until you can get back to them. Find a journal that is small enough to carry in your purse or pocket, and take it with you everywhere.

Record every interesting thing you hear, church sermons, funny things people say, lyrics to songs on radio. Pretty soon, it will become second nature, and people will begin to peer at you curiously and say, "um, what are you writing in that little book?" They're worried you're taking notes about them, of course.

Journals are writer's cookbook. We store our delicious morsels of words in them until it's time to write something nourishing. We may have lots of ideas, but if we don't record them, they are soon forgotten. Don't allow your writing to suffer from malnutrition. Take notes about your life!

May God bless you with right anecdote to cure your blank page. And enough journals to keep you well fed. Happy writing.

For example: when writing events that already happened, use past tense.

Using a non-normal time frame can be confusing to readers, however when used correctly and with a great plot it can be an interesting twist to story. Just remember, power of pen is only as powerful as author's imagination.