Birthdays: Alfred Noyes (1880), Frans Eemil Sillanpaa (1888), H.A. Rey (1898), John Knowles (1926), Jules Bass (1935), Breyten Breytenbach (1939), James Alan McPherson (1943),  Julia Donaldson (1948), William McKeen (1954), Wil McCarthy (1966), Elizabeth McCracken (1966), Walt Becker (1968), Justin Haythe (1973)

Frans Sillanpaa won the 1939 Nobel Prize for Literature – the first Finnish author to do so.

H.A. Rey is best known for his “Curious George” books (along with his wife)

James McPherson was the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1978 for his short story collection “Elbow Room”

Alfred Noyes is best known for his poem “The Highwayman”

Quote: “There was no harm in taking aim, even if the target was a dream.” ― John Knowles, A Separate Peace

“Even ivory towers need central heating.” ― Breyten Breytenbach

 “I get ideas anywhere and everywhere: things that happen to my children; memories of my own childhood; things people say; places I go to; old folk tales and fairy stories. The hard part for me is not getting the idea, it is turning it into a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.” – Julia Donaldson

Tip: Write to your own strengths. You may love comedy or funny cozy mysteries, but not everyone can write funny. Or horror. Or romance. Figure out what you’re good at and go from there.

Jumpstart: As I got closer to the ramshackle house at the end of the road, I noticed…