Birthdays: Denis Diderot (1713), Stetson Kennedy (1916), Bil Keane (1922), Louise Fitzhugh (1928), Bill James (1949), Edward P. Jones (1951), Clive Barker (1952), Neil deGrasse Tyson (1958), David Shannon (1960), Jonathan Edwards (1703), John Addington Symonds (1840), Frederic Morton (1924), Flann O’Brien (1911), Michael Morpurgo (1943), Rupi Kaur (1992), Yvonne Battle-Felton (

Tip: When sending a query letter, be sure you have the editor or agent’s name spelled correctly. And be sure you have the right version of your story attached.

Thought for the day: “In the long run, people only hit what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.” – Henry David Thoreau

Jumpstart: While up in the attic, you find something in your father’s belongings that no child should ever find of their parents, no matter how old. What did you find? What do you do?