Birthdays: Sarah Orne Jewett (1849), Lawrence Clark Powell (1906), Alison Lurie (1926), Aliki (1929), Malcolm Gladwell (1963), Adriana Trigiani (1969), Kiran Desai (1971), Jenny Han (1980),

Alison Lurie won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel “Foreign Affairs”

Quote: “Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.”― Lawrence Clark Powell

“You can’t write well with only the nice parts of your character, and only about nice things. And I don’t want even to try anymore. I want to use everything, including hate and envy and lust and fear.” – Alison Lurie

Tip: Dangling modifiers: modifiers are words or phrases that enhance other words in a sentence. If you misplace them (dangling), you can change the meaning of a sentence, or make it impossible as in: “Carrying the box, the leaves blew across his path.” In this case, it sounds like the leaves are doing the carrying. Much better: As he carried the box, the leaves blew across his path. Or: The leaves blew across his path as he carried the box.

Jumpstart: You’re going to be on a reality show—one that’s never been seen before. What will it be? What will the challenges be? What is the prize? Why are you doing this?