I’m starting a series of guest bloggers hopefully every Wednesday and Friday. Please welcome my first guest and chapter mate–Dennis Clarkston!Hello, have you ever thought about a character being troubled over a certain birthday.   We writers usually write about what we know or experienced.  And, what I know is that several of my friends and acquaintances experienced bad days on their 30th and 40th birthdays.  Just the thought of those days placed them in a state of depression.   Their funk would last that day but most last several days.  They worried about life passing them by and a passing of an era.So, when my 30th birthday came around, I expected this big heavy weight to land on my shoulders (WHAM) and force me into a depressed state of mind.  After waiting for 30 minutes for something to happen that morning, I decided to just get on with my day.  To me, it turned out to be like any other day.   Well, almost like any other day.  Yes, a normal day in that I felt no regrets or did not fret.  No, not a normal day in that I usually don’t get to eat on chocolate birthday cake every day. (Mmmmmm, Chocolate!! – LOL)Then came my 40th birthday.  Again, nothing major happened.  It, too, turned out to be a normal day except for the birthday cake and a few phone calls.  The sky did not fall; the world did not collapse; or the truck started.Now, let’s relate this back to the characters and add some “What ifs…?”  What if the heroine was expected to be married by 30 but found herself single on that day?  How does this affect her?  What if in her attempt to keep her spirits up, she runs into Mr. Right?  Does this kill her funk when she falls for him?On the subject of writing what I know: What if the hero soaks in the information he picked up from his friends who had turned 30?  What if they tell stories of horror and angst?  What if his 30th birthday is weeks away and dread settles in?  What if when he reaches it, he finds that it is just another ordinary day?   What kind of lesson does he learn from this?What if the day before his birthday, this wonderful woman catches his attention? What if all thoughts of his birthday disappear?  What if he had been set up for a blind date on his birthday, but he wanted to date this wonderful woman instead?  What if in the process of trying to find this woman, he lost her in the crowd?  What if he finds out that his blind date was this wonderful woman he saw the day before?  What will he remember about his birthday?To me, this is not enough to build a novel around but it could be used to spice it up some.  One might be able to use it as the hero’s/heroine’s minor internal conflict that can influence the course of his/her actions.Have you had something in your past that you dreaded and then discovered that it was really nothing?  Have you been bothered by any of your birthday’s? Now, you may be asking, “Why this topic?”  Well, yesterday I celebrated my 51st birthday.  And, again, it is turned out to be just another day but with, Mmmmm Chocolate, cake. ——Dennis H. Clarkston lives in the oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase, Natchitoches, La.  He has both a BA and a BS.  No, that does not mean he has a Bad Attitude and is full of Bull S—.  Though he feels like he needs some to complete his books. His dream of writing started in first grade but did not start writing seriously until he hit 24.  He started many novels but never made through to complete the first draft of any until this past July.  Likes to write science fiction that is action adventure based or is that action adventures that are science fiction based.  All have comedy, romance and mystery tossed in as well.Currently, Dennis is running through his first edit of his first novel and hopes to complete his second edit by the end of September.  Then, he hopes he can let it go to someone to critique.  Blog: blog.clark-stone.netEmail: garnara@gmail.com