Birthdays: Charles Baudelaire (1821), Paule Marshall (1929), Margaret Peterson Haddix (1964), Sam Harris (1967)

Tip: Tell your reader how a character feels, and you’ve given your readers a fact. Show how s/he feels and you’ve given them an emotion. Of the two, emotions are much better than fact. Go through your story and find where you’ve given facts vs. shown us their emotions.

Thought for the day: “Inspiration comes of working every day.” – Charles Baudelaire

Jumpstart: Your heroine is sitting in a park and a woman in a dark coat dashes by and drops a note in her lap. It says, “meet me here at midnight or he dies.” What does your heroine do? Does she get help? Who will die? Why? Will she show up?