The day you met someone. Write only what you saw in the first five minutes.
What happened the day you met your best friend?
Everyone gets the same subject. What differs is the follow-up: one question for children, two for teens, three for adults. Only the children's wording is simplified.
Delete every line anyone could have written. What is left is yours.
Pick one. A single idea taken all the way beats ten touched lightly.
Cut every “well, but”. The sentence stands up straight without them.
The last line is the one that stays.
One long sentence can sink the whole piece.
If it still flows without them, the flow was already there.