Birthdays: R.K. Narayan (1906), Claude Simon (1913), James Clavell (1924), Sheila Walsh (1928), Harold Pinter (1930), Lily Tuck (1938), James Marshall (1942), Frederick Barthelme (1943), Robert D San Souci (1946), Daniel San Souci (1948), Nora Roberts (1950), Rumiko Takahashi (1957), Jonathan Littel (1967)

Claude Simon received the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature

Harold Pinter won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature

Lily Tuck won the 2004 Nat’l Book Award for Fiction for “The News from Paraguay”

Quote: “Life is not only full of sound and fury. It also has butterflies, flowers, art.” – Claude Simon

“All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and if they’re any good, the ending is a beginning.” – James Clavell

Tip: Be sure you keep good financial records for the IRS. Yes, you will have to pay taxes on your royalties. But they can be offset by your expenses (sorry, but coffee at Starbucks doesn’t count).

Jumpstart: Pick ten random words from the dictionary (close your eyes, fan the pages, and point – that’s one word). Use these in a scene.