Birthdays: Brander Matthews (1852), Anaïs Nin (1903), W.H. Auden (1907), Erma Bombeck (1927), Richard A. Lupoff (1935), Jeff Shaara (1952), Victor Martinez (1954), Ha Jin (1956), Chuck Palahniuk (1962), David Foster Wallace (1962), Jonathan Safran Foer (1977),

Victor Martinez won the 1996 Nat’l Book Award for Young People’s Literature for “Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida”

Quote: “The final lesson a writer learns is that everything can nourish the writer. The dictionary, a new word, a voyage, an encounter, a talk on the street, a book, a phrase learned.” – Anais Nin

Tip: Show the characters through their emotions rather than telling us about them. Don’t tell the reader she’s angry, show her throwing the vase.

Jumpstart:  We’ve all heard about cloning experiments. What would happen if your character met his/her own clone? What if you did?