The King of Scary Stories, Stephen King, turns 58 today. I came into work
this morning to an email from The Writer's Almanac, in which I learned some cool facts about the incredible author whom we will be featuring in the October issues of WRITING and READ magazines. (Check back with us in October for more about that!)

Did you know?

1) King's father was a merchant seaman who left home when his son was just 2 years old. One day, King found a box full of his father's sci-fi and fantasy books. It was this box that inspired him to start writing horror stories.

2) King wrote his earliest stories in the furnace room of his trailer home. (Maybe that's the inspiration behind the original opening lines he contributed to The Weekly Writer. You can help him finish the story!)

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Summer is coming to an end. There aren't many beautiful days left. That is, unless of course, you live out in sunshiney California. For the rest of us, we must make do with the gorgeous time that we have. Not everything has to be about reading and writing. Anyone who holds themselves in a room with their computer and/or book all day long should seriously reconsider their options.

Here is the difference between ideas and art. Ideas just happen. Art does not just happen. Art requires work. To illustrate this, consider this situation involving a giant Pink Bunny.

Sometimes when I'm stuck and can't think of anything to write, I take a few steps from my comfy, red couch over to my bookshelf. I close my eyes and run my fingers along the spines of all my books and pick one (without peeking, of course!). Then I open the book to the first chapter and read the first line. 

   That, I decide, is going to be my inspiration.