Today is Pack Rat Day and the birthday of Dorothy Richardson, Gary Paulsen, Eloise Greenfield

Tip: Who is your story about and what is his/her problem? Give your story focus so it has a point. Don’t just write about day-to-day happenings. Make your reader become interested in what’s going on. Leave the “yadda, yadda, yadda” to Seinfeld.

Thought: “Do we write books so that they shall merely be read? Don’t we also write them for employment in the household? For one that is read from start to finish, thousands are leafed through, other thousands lie motionless, others are jammed against mouseholes, thrown at rats, others are stood on, sat on, drummed on, have gingerbread baked on them or are used to light pipes.” – G.C. Lichtenberg

Teaser: Someone has vandalized your neighborhood. All the neighbors are talking about it. Since you fashion yourself as an amateur sleuth, you set out to see who’s doing it. When you find out, you are shocked. So who is it? And why is s/he doing the damage?