Below, you will meet some people who are doing it with success.

Norm Sklarewitz - freelance travel writer ******************************************************* Norm lives in Los Angeles, California. He has written thousands of magazine and newspaper articles and columns since being engaged exclusively as a freelance journalist. He also has been Los Angeles Bureau Chief for U.S. News & World Report, and a staff reporter for Wall Street Journal, which included a stint for paper while based in Tokyo.

Here’s our conversation with Norm -

** What is your daily schedule? ** -----------------------------------

Actually, there really is no one typical day. Some days can be making a lot of phone calls, researching, and writing, while other days can be 25-50 percent administrative in writing queries and responding to questions from editors regarding assignments and stories already turned in. I check my email frequently, probably compulsively. I find that email has taken over 90 percent of communication. Faxes have almost stopped. And some days involve meetings, interviews out of my office at home, and going to industry functions. But no day is like a nine to five day. I often work late into night and start early as well. To reach someone on East Coast I have to make calls early. I work heavily with Asian sources, and their day begins around four to five p.m. my time, so I'm working till 10 p.m. to make sure I get what I need before I go to bed.

"The bomb will go off in a month, we have plenty of time to disarm it. Hey, do you want to play a round of golf?" Or "My god, look at timer. Ten seconds and bomb goes off. We'll never get away. We're going to die."

Which of following sentences shows more conflict to you?

"Full house? Wow, you win Jim. Want to play another hand? Or "Jim, you cheatin' snake, these cards are marked," Sam growled as he pulled out a gun from his waistband. "Give me back by twenty grand or I'll blow your damn head off."

Virtually every story needs some kind of conflict and tension. They spice things up and make story more interesting to readers. You can find them in earliest children's books. "The Little Engine That Could," where a train engine struggles to climb a steep hill. "Jimanji," where children struggle to complete game and avoid injury and death. "Cinderella," where main character must contend with her evil stepmother and stepsisters. Conflict, and its resolution, is what makes people want to turn page to see what happens next.