Birthdays: Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828), Farley Mowat (1921), Jennifer Armstrong (1961), Edward Lear (1812), George Carlin (1937), Leslie Charteris (1907), Rafael Yglesias (1954)

Tip: If you have a long passage in italics and there’s something you want to emphasize or something that would regularly be in italics, make that passage plain text to show that it’s different.

Thought for the day: “Whether you want to entertain or to provoke, to break hearts or reassure them, what you bring to your writing must consist of your longings and disappointments.” – Rafael Yglesias

Jumpstart: Your character is rolling dice in Vegas. He has stacks of chips—almost enough to pay off all his debts. Does he quit? Or bet it all on one more roll of the dice? What happens next?