1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

(via kenyatta)

newschallenge:

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Create points of connection between Chicago programmers, open gov enthusiasts, and city officials by building on existing habits.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

No, though it was born out of a…

The 20 or so police cars in front of State St. Macy’s makes me think someone other than Santa is visiting.

So when’s the parade to celebrate the end of the war in Iraq?

“Not just to advance programming but to enhance public’s feeling of ownership in #publicradio.” @knightfdn invests @npr http://t.co/22g0PnSN

Tips on best places to watch #gopdebate in #SouthBeach?

Fav #NewNewTwitter feature by far is the quill.

Only part of tonight’s trip that I’m *not* looking forward to: hour-long cab line at MIA.

Mt @fivethirtyeigh Rick Perry dominates Republican field in Google searches for his name followed by the word “gay”. http://t.co/xUpoVUiK

RT @DanTheCannon: I hope @Jsb doest see this. He loves Mickie my piggy doesn’t stink!