Birthdays: James Branch Cabell (1879), Arnold Toynbee (1889), Bruce Sterling (1954), Mireille Guiliano (1946), Wells Tower (1973)

Tip: An opening to your story is not the place to put backstory. This will not pull the reader in. Backstory can come later. Check your opening. Does it start with action that invites the reader in, or backstory?

Thought for the day: “With fiction, there’s no reason why everything you write shouldn’t be amazing. Nobody’s stopping you from making up better stuff.” – Wells Tower

Jumpstart: Write a love letter. Not just any love letter, but from one person who is caught in a disaster and knows s/he is going to die to their secret love—someone nobody knew about, including the recipient.