Birthdays: Henry David Thoreau (1817), Pablo Neruda (1904), Donald Westlake (1933), Joan Bauer (1951), Johanna Spyri (1827)

Tip: What is your tagline? This is similar to branding. Use as few words as possible to define your writing. For instance, a friend of mine uses: “Mystery, mirth, and mayhem” for her offbeat cozy mysteries. Another uses “Love with a shot of adrenaline” for her action/adventure romances. What is yours?

Thought for the day: “Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” – William Faulkner

Jumpstart: Finish this: There she stood, at the door to the cabin, looking like…