… cue background music for Bonnie Tyler …

I didn’t feel like writing, so I decided reading a how-to book might assuage my guilt. So I picked up Donald Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. I don’t own the book, but I thought the workbook would surely give me something to think about.

It did. The first question in the first chapter stumped me. The question read, “Who are your personal heroes?”

Tough question. My husband? Yes, he is a hero. Literally. He spent almost thirty years as a firefighter. He’s definitely a hero in my book. My parents? They were great people who raised four children with very little, yet we never realized we weren’t filthy rich. Is that heroic? I think so. But I’m not sure those are the type of people Donald Maass is looking for. I’m still thinking about it.

Do you have a personal hero? Who? And why?