Birthdays: Stan Berenstain (1923), Colin Dexter (2017), Donna Leon (1942), Elizabeth Gaskell (1810), Miguel de Cervantes (1547), Herbert Agar (1897), Oscar Handlin (1915), Elizabeth Peters (1927), Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi (1934), Start Kaminsky (1934), James Fogel (1936)

Tip: Finishing your first manuscript is an incredible feeling. Go out and celebrate, but remember this: first drafts rarely sell. Be sure to polish your draft so it’s the best it can be.

Thought for the day: “I think, for me, it’s always been the initial business—just getting a word down, any words down, on a blank piece of paper.  Once I’ve done that, I’m away. Beginning is one half of the deed.” – Colin Dexter

Jumpstart: You’ve gone to a hypnotist to get help with anxiety. While under, he discovers you’ve been hypnotized before… specifically to forget something. What were you supposed to forget and why?