It would be interesting to know who the author was she liked. As for the story, we may have a tendency to see current life situations thru the past. Like a person who was ignored as a child, might see someone cutting him off in traffic as ignoring him and have a really strong road rage reaction, whereas another person, who didn't feel ignored as a child, could be cut off in traffic and think, "oh that person must have been distracted, good thing he caught it in time." So you look at your story, and try to find similar reactions in current life that might be less than ideal.