Birthdays: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805), Booth Tarkington (1869), Eyvind Johnson (1900), Stanley Kunitz (1905), Sam Sinclair Baker (1909), Chester Himes (1909), Edwin O’Connor (1918), Sharon Creech (1945), Kathleen Krull (1952), Didier Van Cauwelaert (1960), Chang-rae Lee (1965), Adele Griffin (1970), Wil Wheaton (1972)
Eyvind Johnson shared the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature with Harry Martinson.
Stanley Kunitz was the winner of the 1955 National Book Award for Poetry and the US Poet Laureate in both 1974 and 2000.
Edwin O’Connor won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “The Edge of Sadness”
Sharon Creech won the Newbery Medal for “Walk Two Moons”
Quote: “I love the way that each book—any book—is its own journey. You open it, and off you go….” ― Sharon Creech
“I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.” ― Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
Tip: When thinking about marketing, think outside the box. Write a book about a pet shop? Try selling your books there. A hair salon figure in your story? Ask them if they’d sell some books for you. Be creative, but don’t be a pest. If you’ve never gone into a particular bookstore or shop, don’t expect them to be open to selling your books for you.
Jumpstart: There was an accident at a science lab you were visiting and you’ve been shifted into a different phase. You can see and hear everyone, but no one can see or hear you. What do you do? Remember, being out of phase with this reality means no food or other comforts for you.
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July 30
Birthdays: Emily Brontë (1818), Dominique Lapierre (1931), Patrick Modiano (1945), Archer Mayor (1950), Marcus Pfister (1960), Cherie Priest (1975)
Patrick Modiano won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Quote: “The world is full of things we can’t control. All we can do is keep trying, keep working.”― Cherie Priest, Grave Reservations
“Last century’s magic is this year’s science.” ― Cherie Priest, Maplecroft
““Writing is a strange and solitary activity. There are dispiriting times when you start working on the first few pages of a novel. Every day, you have the feeling you are on the wrong track. This creates a strong urge to go back and follow a different path. It is important not to give in to this urge, but to keep going. It is a little like driving a car at night, in winter, on ice, with zero visibility. You have no choice, you cannot go into reverse, you must keep going forward while telling yourself that all will be well when the road becomes more stable and the fog lifts.” ― Patrick Modiano
Tip: Even though it’s difficult or hurts, reading over rejections a second (or third) time can show you where you might have some weaknesses you need to work on. Especially if multiple editors are saying the same thing.
Jumpstart: You’re walking down the street, window shopping, when you hear a scream from an alley up ahead. You have no phone. What if it’s late night and you’re alone? What do you do?
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July 31
Birthdays: Brett Halliday (1904), Primo Levi (1919), Lynne Reid Banks (1929), Cees Nooteboom (1933), Susan Cheever (1943), Faye Kellerman (1952), Steven Womack (1952), Lynne Rae Perkins (1956), J.K. Rowling (1965),
Primo Levi was an Italian chemist and writer. His “If This Is a Man” is an account of his time in a Nazi concentration camp, and his “The Periodic Table” was named the greatest science book ever written by the Royal Institute of Great Britain.
Lynn Reid Banks is best known for her children’s book “The Indian in the Cupboard”.
Lynn Perkins book “Criss Cross” won the 2006 Newbery Medal.
J.K. Rowling is best known for her “Harry Potter” series.
Quote: “Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers and it would be foolish to deny it. Rejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.” ― Primo Levi, The Black Hole of Auschwitz
“Writers often write their best when they are feeling their worst” ― Susan Cheever, Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography
Tip: Thinking about your writing career and where it currently is. Are you happy with it and where you’re headed? If not, what can you do to change things? Remember, you can only adjust things you are in control of.
Jumpstart: You’ve just inherited a piece of land from a relative you never knew about. It turns out to be a junkyard. But one that specializes in a particular type of “junk” – each piece is haunted. What do you do?
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August 1
Birthdays: Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815), Herman Melville (1819), Paul Horgan (1903), Stanley Middleton (1919), Robert Waller (1939), David Gemmell (1948), Amy Friedman (1952), James Gleick (1954), Madison Smartt Bell (1957), James St. James (1966).
Richard Dana, Jr. is best known for his memoir “Two Years Before the Mast”
Herman Melville is best known for his masterpiece “Moby Dick”
Paul Horgan won two Pulitzer Prizes in History.
Stanley Middleton won the 1974 Booker Prize for his novel “Holiday”
Rober Waller is best known for his 1992 novel “The Bridges of Madison County”
James Gleick has been a Pulitzer and Nat’l Book Award finalist multiple times.
Quote: “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” ― Richard Henry Dana
“Nothing of real worth can ever be bought. Love, friendship, honour, valour, respect. All these things have to be earned.” ― David Gemmell, Shield of Thunder
“Ideas that require people to reorganize their picture of the world provoke hostility.” ― James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science
“It’s easy to lose the energy that you need for a long piece unless the characters are surprising you and showing you something new every week, or even every month, or every other paragraph – however often it comes.” – Anne McDermott
Tip: This is national eye exam month. A writer’s eyes are almost as important as his imagination. When was the last time you had a good eye exam? If you can’t remember, schedule one.
Jumpstart: August is the only month without any sort of recognized holiday. You have been tasked with creating one. What or who will it honor? Why? Will it be national or international? Will workers get the day off?
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August 2
Birthdays: Holling C Holling (1900), James Baldwin (1924), Isabel Allende (1942), Beverly Coyle (1946), James Howe (1946), Lawrence Wright (1947), Caleb Carr (1955)
Holling C. Holling won the 1943 Caldecott for his illustrations in “Paddle-to-the-Sea”
James Howe is best known for his “Bunnicula” series
Lawrence Wright won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11”
Quote: “Banning books is just another form of bullying. It’s all about fear and an assumption of power. The key is to address the fear and deny the power.”
― James Howe
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” ― James Baldwin
Tip: There isn’t a formula for writing a blockbuster book and becoming successful, other than writing the best book you can. The rest of it is pretty much luck and marketing.
Jumpstart: Finish this: It wasn’t the first time I’d been caught (doing what?), but it was the first time I’d…
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August 3
Birthdays: Vernon Parrington (1871), Rupert Brooke (1887), Clifford Simak (1904), Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1909), James MacGregor Burns (1918), P.D. James (1920), Hayden Carruth (1921), Leon Uris (1924), Mary Calhoun (1926), Marvin Bell (1937), Martha Stewart (1941), Steven Millhauser (1943), Walter Kirn (1962),
Vernon Parrington won the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for History for “Main Currents in American Thoughts”
Clifford Simak won three Hugo awards and one Nebula Award in his career.
James Burns won the National Book Award and Pulitzer for his biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Hayden Carruth won the National Book Award for his poetry collection “Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey”
Steven Millhauser won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Martin Dressler”
Quote: “We desire justice, and justice has never been obtained in haste and strong feeling.”
― Walter Van Tilburg Clark
“Power wielders may treat people as things. Leaders may not.” ― James MacGregor Burns, Leadership
“Who here wants to be a writer?’ I asked. Everyone in the room raised his hand. ‘Why the hell aren’t you home writing?’ I said, and left the stage.” ― Leon Uris, Qb VII
Tip: Negativity breeds negativity. If your circle of friends or crit partners is too negative, it can influence your way of thinking. Figure out a way to turn that negativity into a positive.
Jumpstart: My mother always told me… (what). I tried. I really did, but… (what?)
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August 4
Birthdays: Percy Shelley (1792), Knut Hamsun (1859), Robert Hayden (1913), Robert Beck (1918), Mary White Calstom (1948), Tim Winton (1960), Dennis Lehane (1965), Fred Khumalo (1966), Jojo Moyes(1969)
Robert Hayden was the first Black person to hold the office of US Poet Laureate – 1976-1978.
Knut Hamsun won the 1920 Nobel Prize for Literature for “Growth of the Soil”
Quote: Happiness doesn’t lie in conspicuous consumption and the relentless amassing of useless crap. Happiness lies in the person sitting beside you and your ability to talk to them. Happiness is clear-headed human interaction and empathy. Happiness is home. And home is not a house-home is a mythological conceit. It is a state of mind. A place of communion and unconditional love. It is where, when you cross its threshold, you finally feel at peace.”
― Dennis Lehane
“I always make a point of working on more than one project at a time. When I am stuck with my, say, fiction, I change gears and work on a piece of journalism or some other non-fiction. I don’t wait for inspiration. I write every day – even if it’s unpublishable rubbish.” – Fred Khumalo
Tip: If you can afford it, enter contests, especially ones that offer comments not just scores. The feedback from some can be invaluable. But be prepared for uneven results. Don’t look at the scores so much as pay attention to the comments.
Jumpstart: You’re one of the first people who get to go on vacation on the international space station. Do you go? Why or why not? What happens when something goes wrong?
Sparkling Book Reviews 