Birthdays: Irving Berlin (1888), Camilo Jose Cela (1916), Sheila Bumford (1918), Richard P. Feynman (1918), Gene Savoy (1927), Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1927), Stanley Elkin (1930), Rachel Billington (1942), Peter Sis (1949), Mike Lupica (1952), David Garrow (1953)

Camilo Cela won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature

Zilpha Snyder was a three-time Newbery Honor winner.

David Garrow won the 1987 Pulitzer for Biography for “Bearing the Cross”

Quote: “Just looking at the outside of the library made Robin lose herself for a minute, remembering the feel of libraries. There was that special smell made up of paper, ink, and dust; the busy hush; the endless luxury of thousands of unread books. Best of all was the eager itch of anticipation as you went out the door with your arms loaded down with books. Libraries had always seemed almost too good to be true.” ― Zilpha Keatley Snyder, The Velvet Room

“Ideas? My head is full of them, one after the other, but they serve no purpose there. They must be put down on paper, one after the other.” – Camilo Jose Cela

Tip: Check the house style for the publisher you’re submitting to. Most use the standard Times New Roman, 12 point, double spacing, left only justification. But some prefer 1.5 spacing. Follow their guidelines. Yes, it may mean you have multiple copies of the same manuscript in different formats, but that’s better than ignoring their rules.

Jumpstart: It’s five years after your story ended. What are the characters doing now? What has happened in that five years?