From childhood, Moira loved to write. Throughout school she _________ writing, but pursuing（追求）it professionally was never a _________. Her father was a doctor. Her mother was a nurse.

“Medicine was a fairly _________ choice,” Moira says. “And writing was a career where it wasn’t a _________ that you’d have high income.”

She became a doctor but still wanted to do some writing. However, being a doctor was so _________ that she didn’t take up writing until her 30s. She _________ a novel—a fictionalized version（版本） of her travels in China after university. She got excellent _________. Moira sent it off to as many agents as she could find, and found one who wanted to _________ her. Suddenly, it seemed she was on her _________ as an author.

“I had one lengthy phone call with the agent where we ____________ all possible areas that she thought needed ____________. I worked on those and sent it back to her but didn’t hear anything.” It was not long ____________ Moira found another agent who was ____________ if she was willing to rewrite it from the first person to the third person. She did the hard work and sent it off again. “I got back a really brief letter: ‘Thank you, but I’m no longer interested.’It was really ____________.” A decade went by, and Moira found herself itching to write again, this time ____________ for her own enjoyment. She ____________ herself the challenge of creating a thriller and chose Western Australia as her setting.

As she was writing just for herself, something surprising began to happen. “The characters ____________ a life of their own; they started doing things I hadn’t thought about. It just ____________ out.” One day, an agent called from Australia. Three weeks later, Moira had a publication deal. Her novel, Cicada, was published in March.

“Even if it hadn’t been ____________ I still would have gained so much from the ____________ ,”says Moira.

On his day off, Vernon Jackson still goes to work, opening up his Cincinnati barber shop, Noble Barber and Beauty, for VIP clients: children with special needs.

It’s something he’s done since 2021. “I had heard so many horror ______ that parents were going through in other barber shops and just the barbers or stylists having no ______ with their child,” Jackson said. “Therefore, I ______ I would compromise by coming in on my day off, so I could give them the full ______ that they need.”

Jackson said having an empty shop helps some children who are ______ to new environments and sounds. His ______ is to help the children get accustomed to the barber shop so they can feel ______ coming in when other employees and clients are there.

And not only does he work on his day off, but he does it ______. “When I first started ______ that I was going to come in on my day off to do haircuts for children with special needs, a friend of mine just randomly e-mailed me and said, ‘Hey Vern, can I ______ a haircut?’” he said. More and more people asked to donate money and Jackson started a GoFundMe page. Many parents wanted to pay for the haircut but Jackson would tell them “It’s ______.”

Jackson already has ______ that come to him from other cities in Ohio for haircuts, and he hopes to put the money donated towards travel, so he can ______ free haircuts to children with special needs across the country.

“It’s ______ been a beautiful experience,” he said. “I’m ______ to love to my fullest capacity and see what happens when I do.”

I was a 19 - year - old Dubai - raised kid away from home for the first time to start my undergraduate studies in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak in Malaysia. I'd never ________ alone before and the seven -hour flight from Dubai was the longest flight I had ever taken. I pushed my luggage and ________ to the airport exit to find a grey van with the name of my university ________ it.

As we left the ________, the driver shared information with me about the city and its people. Not long into our ________, the lights of the car behind flashed at us. This continued more aggressively and my driver started to ________. Flashes followed, so we pulled over to the roadside in a well -lit area. I tried to put on a ________ face as the man got off the car and made his way to my side. As he reached my window, I lowered it and ________ to force a smile. He reached into the van and I ________ a loud “Whoa!”

Then I looked down at his hands to see that he was ________ my travel pouch. It contained my passport, returned tickets, as well as cash and letters for the university. I had left it ________ on the trolley at the airport and this man had been trying to ________ it to me ever since we had left the airport.

________ I took my pouch and thanked this stranger. 'The man welcomed me to Kuching, wished me luck with my university studies and drove away.

This act of kindness ________ cheered me up and thanks to this honest stranger, the initial self - doubt I had about my decision to study so far away from home was ________ with hope and excitement.