Birthdays: Barbara J. Robinson (1927), Stephen Covey (1932), Norman Rush (1933), David Weber (841), Dale Maharidge (1956), Brenda Ueland (1891), Denise Levertov (1923), Emma Donoghue (1969), Gabrielle Zevin (1977)

Tip: You’re working on your story and suddenly get a brilliant idea for an entirely different story. What do you do? Write down as many notes about the new one as you can, enough to jog your brain at a future date, then get back to the original one.

Thought for the day: “I like to believe, as a writer, that anybody who isn’t a reader yet has just not found the right book.” – Gabrielle Zevin

Jumpstart: I lined up my lucky charms. There was the heart stone, the blue feather, the four leaf clover and all the rest. I would need them all for this.