Birthdays: Nella Larsen (1891), Marguerite Henry (1902), Samuel Beckett (1906),
Eudora Welty (1909), Erik Christian Haugaard (1923), Christopher Hitchens (1949), John Braine (1922), Michel Faber (1960), Seamus Heaney (1939)

Tip: Delete redundant modifiers. Don’t “look up” at the sky. The sky is up. Just look at it. Don’t sit down. Just sit.

Thought for the day: “I can’t think of a case where poems changed the world, but what they do is they change people’s understanding of what’s going on in the world.” – Seamus Heaney

Jumpstart: You’ve purchased a painting of an old castle with a figure in the tower window. You’re not sure why you bought the piece—it’s not even very attractive, but something drew you to it. Upon closer inspection…