Birthdays: David Levithan (1972), Edith Sitwell (1964), Jennifer Egan (1962), Margaret Landon (1903), Michelle Paver (1960), Taylor Caldwell (1900)

Tip: There are six basic types of conflict: man against nature (where someone is trying to survive in the wilderness or facing a storm of some sort, like Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” or Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”). Man against himself (as in “Hamlet” where the character is conflicted internally- literally fighting himself). Man against man (any book with a hero and a villain). Man vs. society (The Scarlet Letter). Man vs. technology (“Blade Runner” or “The Terminator”). And Man vs. the supernatural (Harry Potter). There may be other types of conflict, but these are the basics and you should have at least two in your story.

Thought for the day: “I print out and save all my drafts and I number them so if I start to have that experience of something good having disappeared, I can go through them and I can dig back to what I’m looking for. I distrust the continuous present of a screen because there’s no history there.” – Jennifer Egan