Birthdays: Emma Lazarus (1849), David Shields (1956), Margery Williams Bianco (1881), Akhil Sharma (1971), Bryan Forbes (1926), Jeremy Lloyd (1930), S.E. Hinton (1948), Tom Robbins (1936)

Tip: As a writer, you need to develop a writing process that is flexible yet provides structure. How can you arrange your schedule to provide both?

Thought for the day: “Writing is one of the loneliest of the arts; unlike the actor we have no immediate audience and must wait many long months, even years on occasion, for the splatter of applause to reach our ears, if indeed we are not damned by total neglect.” – Bryan Forbes

Jumpstart: If your character was awakened out of a sound sleep and asked to describe himself in generalities (Midwesterner, engineer) what words would he blurt out?