Birthdays: Charles Nordhoff (1887), Langston Hughes (1902), Muriel Spark (1918), Richard Hooker (1924), Galway Kinnell (1927), Reynolds Price (1933), Jerry Spinelli (1941), Kate Braverman(1950), Dan Fagin (1963), Meg Cabot (1967)

Richard Hooker was a writer and surgeon whose military service in the Korean War became the book/movie/TV series M.A.S.H.

Galway Kinnell won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Dan Fagin’s book “Toms River” won the 2014 Pulitzer for Nonfiction

Meg Cabot is most well-known for her series The Princess Diaries

Tip: Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. It may never happen. Instead, learn discipline and write every day. Even if it’s garbage, it can be fixed.

Quote: “To create a market for your writing you have to be consistent, professional, a continuing writer – not just a one-article or a one-story or a one-book man.” – Langston Hughes

Jumpstart: He tossed the pictures in the can along with the match. The flames grew…