Concrete, abstract/metaphors, similes

Question 1: {/b} The first two sentences in a short, short story:

Baby Meghan needed a serious operation. James was broke and desperate.

James and Martha Smith’s six-week-old baby Meghan need a serious operation. She would require extensive surgery to repair a hole in her heart which was not closing on its own. James had a bank account with a minus balance. The hospital wanted $1000 just to admit Meghan. The doctor said that Meghan would not live another week without the surgery. James was as desperate as a Grizzly caught in a bear-trapped.

Question 2: {/b} I have always had and understanding of the two words. However, being able to apply them is not always easy. I think that I sometimes use concreteness without being conscious of it. I hope that I will be more aware. At least at the editing step, I will make an effort to just look for abstractness that needs clarification.

Question 3: {/b} I don’t think I use very many metaphor or similes. I think I try to show descriptively without comparisons or instead of telling with a single word. The clichés I use and I know I should not. So, I will be searching my work for these little devils when the term has ended and will be trying to create my own clichés.

I have a place in my Writer’s Notebook where I write down expressions I find in out and about that I especially like. Some examples are:
 As bald as an elbow;
 shovel myself out of debt;
 your Ken can kiss my Barbie;
 His face even has muscles;
 living in the tyranny of the moment;
 pockets of intelligence;
 she was on the cute side of pretty;
 the door yawned open;
 I shoveled myself out of bed.