Birthdays: Annie Proulx (1935), Diane Setterfield (1964), Dorothy Parker (1893), Kate Christensen (1962), Peter James (1948), Ray Bradbury (1920), Kurt Anderson (1954)

Tip: A simile is a figure of speech where two very different things are compared to each other, usually denoted by the word “as.” For instance: She had a heart as big as Texas.

Thought for the day: “What I find to be very bad advice is the snappy little sentence, ‘Write what you know.’ It is the most tiresome and stupid advice that could possibly be given. If we write simply about what we know we never grow. We don’t develop any facility for languages, or an interest in others, or a desire to travel and explore and face experience head-on. We just coil tighter and tighter into our boring little selves. What one should write about is what interests one.” – Annie Proulx

“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury

Jumpstart: The storm rattled the windows, slashing at them as if trying to get past the thin glass to the inside. I knew if it did…