Birthdays: Vita Sackville-West (1892), Bernarda Bryson (1903), Mickey Spillane (1918), Margot Apple (1946), Keri Hulme (1947), Pat Murphy (1955), David Pogue (1963), Hannu Rajaniemi (1978),

Quote: “I’m a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book. Hemingway hated me. I sold 200 million books, and he didn’t. Of course most of mine sold for 25 cents, but still… you look at all this stuff with a grain of salt.” – Mickey Spillane

Tip: Write a one-line sentence that describes what you would like to accomplish as a writer in the next five years. Be specific, and realistic.

Jumpstart: A vandal has trashed your street. You put on your sleuth hat and set out to find the perpetrator. When you find out who did it, you are shocked. Who did it and why?

Birthdays: Kenneth Grahame (1859), Douglass Wallop (1920), John McPhee (1931), Neil Postman (1931), Richard Farina (1937), Jim Bouton (1939), Peter Roop (1951), Jeffrey Eugenides (1960), Robert Sabuda (1965),

Kenneth Grahame is best known for “The Wind in the Willows”

Douglass Wallop is known for “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant” which was made into the musical “Damn Yankees”

Jeffrey Eugenides won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for “Middlesex”

Quote: “I have a lot of novels that I haven’t finished. I usually get 150 pages in and I realize it’s not going anywhere. I don’t publish everything I write.” – Jeffrey Eugenides

Tip: March is a month of changes—from winter to spring, dark to light, cold to warm. What changes do you need to be a better writer? How can you make them?

Jumpstart: Write a rejection letter rejecting your latest rejection. Be specific about why you think the publisher is wrong, not just angry or upset. Why are you the best person to write this book and what is good about it?

Birthdays: Kōbō Abe (1924), Dan Jacobson (1929), George Perec (1936), Elizabeth Moon (1945), Daniel Goleman (1946), William Boyd (1952), Andrea Levy (1956), Robert Harris (1957), Rick Bass (1958), E.L. James (1963), Bret Easton Ellis (1964), Brent Weeks (1977)

Quote: “There’s a thousand other great writing tips, but generally, do what works for you. Try different things and keep doing whatever it is that helps you get words on the page.” – Brent Weeks

Tip: Stretch your writing brain and occasionally write something totally different for you. If you’re a novelist, write a poem; if a poet, write a short story. Write something that takes you out of your comfort zone.

Jumpstart: What would the soundtrack of your life sound like?

Birthdays: Cyrano de Bergerac (1619), Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806), Ring Lardner, Sr. (1885), Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909), Will Eisner (1917), Gabriel García Márquez (1928), Chris Raschka (1959), Patrick deWitt (1975), Daniel H. Wilson (1978),

Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature

Chris Rascha won the 2006 Caldecott Medal for “The Hello, Goodbye Window”

Quote: “Whatever I’m thinking about has got to fit into thirty-two pages, the standard picture book size. So that’s something. But the structure and the form for me are almost the most important, because these will express as much as words and images will the content of the work” – Chris Raschka

Tip: If you are going the traditional publishing route, make a list of ten publishers/agents to send your latest work to. Do your homework. Don’t just pick names out of a list. Study the guidelines and submit to those who handle your kind of writing.

Jumpstart: You come home to find fifteen messages in your voicemail. All from the same number—one you don’t recognize and can’t find through an online search. The first message says, “If you want Darcy to live, you’d better answer.” The messages get increasingly threatening. Who is Darcy? Do you know? What do you do?

Birthdays: Howard Pyle (1853), Frank Norris (1870), Charles H. Fuller, Jr. (1939), Mike Resnick (1942), Mem Fox (1946), Leslie Marmon Silko (1948), Robin Hobb (1952), Mark Z. Danielewski (1966), Sarah J. Maas (1986)

Quote: “The first thing you have to do is write. There is no easy shortcut about that. Having a great agent or your cousin being best friends with an editor won’t change that. First, you have to write the book (or story) beginning to end. Then you have to make it the best story you can possibly create.” – Robin Hobb

Tip: Do you do crossword or other word puzzles? You should. They will stretch your vocabulary and help you with your writing.

Jumpstart: You’ve been cursed by a witch. You will never write another word unless you…. What is the worst possible you can think of that you do not want to do? Do you do it?

Birthdays: T.S. Stribling (1881), Meindert DeJong (1906), Barbara Follett (1914), Alan Sillitoe (1928), David Plante (1940), James Ellroy (1948), Julia Cameron (1948), Peggy Rathman (1953), Geoff Nicholson (1953), Daniel Woodrell (1953), David Carter (1957), Khaled Hosseini (1965), Dav Pilkey (1966), Fiona Maazel (1975),

T.S. Stribling won the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for “The Store”

Meindert DeJong is a multiple winner of the Newbery Award for his children’s books

Barbara Follet was a child prodigy whose first two books were published when she was twelve and fourteen. She disappeared at age 25.

Khaled Hosseini is best known for his 2003 novel “The Kite Runner”

Dav Pilkey is most noted for his children’s series “Captain Underpants”

Quote: “Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.” – Khaled Hosseini

Tip: Pretend you’ve been offered a spot on a talk show to promote your book. What would you say? This can be the beginning of a blurb.

Jumpstart: Using the names Tiffany and Bertha, write a scene for each of them, but don’t stereotype them. Give them something different than what their names conjure up at first thought. For instance, Bertha could be a pole dancer and Tiffany a strong, tough, Marine.

Birthdays: William Godwin (1756), Arthur Machen (1863), Edward Thomas (1878), Fory Nichols (1896), Peter Abrahams (1919), Ronald Searle (1920), Erik Blegvad (1923), James Merrill (1926), Nicholas Freeling (1927), Patricia MacLachlan (1938), Ron Chernow (1949), Julia Glass (1956), Nicholas Shakespeare (1957), Stephen Budansky (1957), John Matteson (1961), Tyler Florence (1971)

William Godwin was a novelist and father of Mary Shelley of “Frankenstein” fame.

Roy F. Nichols was the 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner for History for “The Disruption of American Democracy”

James Merrill won the 1977 Pulitzer for Poetry

Patrician MacLachian is best known for her 1986 Newbery medal winner “Sarah, Plain and Tall”

Ron Chernow won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for “Washington” biography

Julia Glass won the 2002 National Book Award for “Three Junes”

John Matteson won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for “Eden’s Outcsts”

Quote: “My inspiration for writing is all the wonderful books that I read as a child and that I still read. I think that for those of us who write, when we find a wonderful book written by someone else, we don’t really get jealous, we get inspired, and that’s kind of the mark of what a good writer is.” – Patricia MacLachlan

Tip: Expand your professional library with books like “The Emotion Thesaurus” by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi or Roget’s Thesaurus or “Character Naming Sourcebook” by Kenyon or other reference books. And don’t just let them sit on your shelves—use them!

Jumpstart: You glance out your window late at night and see your neighbor digging a deep hole. You’ve always thought he was a strange character. Do you go out for a sneaky, but closer, look? Or do you just grab the binoculars and watch from a dark window? What is he digging the hole for? Write two scenes—one from your POV, one from his.

Birthdays: Sholem Aleichem (1859), John Jay Chapman (1862), Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904), David Goods (1917), Tom Wolfe (1931), Leo Dillon (1933), John Irving (1942), Peter Straub (1943)

Sholem Aleichem is the pen name of Solomon Rabinovich whose “Tevye the Milkman” stories were the basis for “Fiddler on the Roof”

Theodore Geisel is better known as Dr. Seuss.

Leo Dillon was a Caldecott winner in 1976 and 1977. His best known work is “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears”

Quote: “I’ve always preferred writing in longhand. I’ve always written first drafts in longhand…I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft.” – John Irving

Tip: Start a spreadsheet, one page for each manuscript you have, and track who it is sent to, when, the response, etc.

Jumpstart: A “Tom Swiftie” is a pun-like adverbial tag and should not be used except when you want to have a bit of fun, but remember that they will probably be edited out at the end. For instance: “We need a new light,” he said darkly. Write a short scene where you use as many Swiftie’s as possible.

To start off the new month, we have new reviews.

Under Romance:

Two books by Michelle Godard-Richter – Note: Neither one of these books is out just yet, so keep an eye out for these 5***** stories.

Fatal Witness – A Romantic Suspense that will surprise you.

Back in Time with Jelly Beans – part of the new The Wild Rose Press series of books themed around springtime and jellybeans.

Under YA books:

Throwback by Maureen Goo – a 3*** coming of age story ala “Back to the Future”

Under Fantasy:

Grave-Reaping Hermit by Everlyn C. Thompson – 4**** for this first in a paranormal series

Birthdays: Michel de Montaigne (1533), Marcel Pagnol (1895), John Tenniel (1820), Stephen Spender (1909), Walter Tevis (1928), Steve Martini (1946), Megan McDonald (1959), Colum McCann (1965), Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) (1970),

Quote: “There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many, many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different.” – Lemony Snicket

Tip: In the best stories, the main character has to not only overcome the external problem, but internal ones as well. She should change as a person—grow and become better. What conflicts does your character face?

Jumpstart: Make a list of places you would like to visit. Now do the research. Besides money, what would you need to go there? Why do you want to visit them? If you can’t go, how much can you find out about them through research? Put your main character there, or have her dreaming about it.