Birthdays: Anita Brookner (1928), Reinaldo Arenas (1943), Richard Egielski (1952), Eve Titus (1922), Andrew Smith (1959), Frances Spalding (1950), James Still (1906), Robert Sheckley (1928), Tony Kushner (1956)

Tip: Use a camera or your phone to take pictures of everything—places, people, things—use these pictures for ideas in your writing.

Thought for the day: “I actually do start my stories with a particular quirky idea (like a dead horse falling out of the sky, or how two teens might trigger the end of the world in a recession-wracked Midwestern town) and then build a small universe around that idea.” – Andrew Smith

Jumpstart: Finish this: I ran into the emergency room… (use: bling, fan, teddy bear). Are you the doctor/nurse? Or the patient? Or a visitor?