Birthdays: Henry David Thoreau (1817), Johanna Spyri (1827), Pablo Neruda (1904), Donald Westlake (1933), Delia Ephron (1944), Elias Khoury (1948), Joan Bauer (1951), Adam Johnson (1967), Amanda Hocking (1984),

Johanna Spyri is best known for her book “Heidi”

Pablo Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Adam Johnson won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Quote: “My biggest word of advice to any new, future writers thinking about diving into self-publishing: Edit. I don’t care what you think, you didn’t edit enough. Some people won’t care that there’s errors, its true, but enough of them will. And they paid for it, so they have a right to. So edit more. And then again. Really….Self-publishing is great, but it’s not easy.” – Amanda Hocking

Tip: What is your tagline? This is similar to branding. Use as few words as possible to define your writing. For instance, a friend of mine uses: “Mystery, mirth, and mayhem” for her offbeat cozy mysteries. Another uses “Love with a shot of adrenaline” for her action/adventure romances. What is yours?

Jumpstart: Finish this: There she stood, at the door to the cabin, looking like… (write it first as a mystery/thriller, then as a romance, finally, as a comedy)