Birthdays: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811), Nathalie Sarraute (1900), Jessamyn West (1902), Hunter S. Thompson (1937), Felicia Bond (1954), Elizabeth Gilbert (1969), Elizabeth Jennings (1926), Margaret Laurence (1926)

Tip: Enjoy the ride. You should enjoy what you do. Yes, writing is hard. But there should also be joy somewhere in there. If you worry about deadlines, plot points, sales, reviews, etc., you’ll never get to enjoy what you accomplished. You wrote a book! Congratulations. Celebrate.

Thought for the day: “Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking.” – Jessamyn West Jumpstart: Finish this: I rushed to fudge the numbers before he returned… (use: monk, magazine, imagination