Birthdays: Niccolo Machiavelli (1469), Jacob Riis (1849), E.W. Howe (1853), Andy Adams (1859), Dodie Smith (1896), May Sarton (1912), Ben Elton (1959), Reza Aslan (1972)

Dodie Smith is known for your book “The Hundred and One Dalmatians”

Mavis Jukes won the 1985 Newbery Award for “Like Jake and Me”

Quote: “I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring – I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.” – Dodie Smith

Tip: Don’t use song lyrics in a story unless you wrote the song. Getting permissions can be difficult and expensive. Not getting permission could end in a lawsuit. Even a few lines can be problematical.

Jumpstart: For just one hour, you have the power of a god. What would you do? Why?

Under “Fiction“

Dangerous Leads by Andrew Rowberry – 4 sparklers for this first person PI story.

Grayson by Tamara White – 3 Sparklers for this contemporary fiction book

Under “LGBTQ+ for Adults:

In the Weeds by Andrew Grey – 5 Sparklers for this contemporary gay romance.

Birthdays: Novalis (1772), Jerome K. Jerome (1859), E.E. Smith (1890), Benjamin Spock (1903), Martha Grimes (1931), Esther Freud (1963),

Dr. Benjamin Spock was best known for his “Baby and Child Care” book

Quote: “You can’t be blocked if you just keep on writing words. Any words. People who get ‘blocked’ make the mistake of thinking they have to write good words.” – Martha Grimes

Tip: Learn to use “track changes” in your processing program. It’s what most editors and publishers rely on when editing your work.

Jumpstart: Look at a scenic picture. What is happening just out of sight? Describe the scene and what is happening in detail.

Birthdays: Joseph Addison (1672), James Ford Rhodes (1848), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881), Elizabeth Marie Pope (1917), Joseph Heller (1923), Bobbie Ann Mason (1940), Karen Thompson Walker (1980)

James Ford Rhodes won the 1918 Pulitzer Prize for History for “History of the Civil War, 1861-1865”

Elizabeth Pope received a Newbery Honor for “The Perilous Guard”

Quote: “Words, when well chosen, have so great a force in them, that a description often gives us more lively ideas than the sight of things themselves.” – Joseph Addison

Tip: Don’t use fancy fonts, weird characters, or unusual symbols in your manuscript unless absolutely necessary. Jumpstart: You’re at a conference and sit at a table with seven strangers whom you hit it off with, although the talk seems a bit odd to you at times. You shrug it off as you are having the best time you’ve had yet. Then you realize you’re at the wrong banquet. What do you