Well, other authors are doing it, so I thought I had better jump on the band wagon, too! I am going to be sharing with you my writing tips over the next few days! Oh lordy! LOL 

1) Your characters must *do* something! Yes, we all love the comic-relief character, or the handsome hero/pretty heroine, but really, after a while such a character gets boring if he/she doesn't actually DO anything. In other words, probably a good idea to make sure your characters are more than just page filler. After all, if the story is unaffected by the removal of the character, then they shouldn't be there no matter how interesting they become.

 2) "Start as close to the ending as possible". Now, we all love Vonnegut, and for those who don't he had some great ideas about writing...and some I don't agree with. I believe you should start a story at a GOOD place. Not many readers want to read a history of Scandinavia to get to a story (unless you're a Lord of the Rings fan) So in this case, I believe Vonnegut's words do have some merit. Start so you can get to your ending in an interesting way.   

Stay tuned for more writing tips later...