Birthdays: Ernst Haeckl (1834), Henry Adams (1838), Elizabeth Craig (1883), Van Wyck Brooks (1886), George F. Kennan (1904), David B. Davis (1927), Richard Ford (1944), Iain Banks (1954), Natalie Angier (1958), Warren Ellis (1968), Maureen Johnson (1973),

Henry Adams won the 1919 Pulitzer for his autobiography.

George Kennan won both the Pulitzer and National Book Award for his memoirs of being an American diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union

Richard Ford won the 1996 Pulitzer for Fiction for his book “Independence Day”

Quote: “Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don’t try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. If you try to polish every sentence, there’s a chance you’ll never get past the first chapter.” – Iain Banks

Tip: Don’t start all character names with the same letter. Keeping track of John, Joan, Jeff, Jane becomes too confusing for the reader. Vary your names and attributes. Make them real.

Jumpstart: You’re a bartender and there is a sad, lonely man sitting on a corner stool with a wilted rose. You ask him what’s wrong. What does he tell you?